Elizabeth (Betty) Sortwell Ross, 96, of Wiscasset, died Dec. 21 of pneumonia in her home, surrounded by her family and caretakers following a courageous bout with Alzheimer’s disease.
Betty Sortwell was born Nov. 5, 1914, in Boston, Mass., the eldest of three children, to Daniel R. Sortwell and Helen Dobbs Sortwell. She spent her early childhood in Charles River Village, Mass., and summered in Wiscasset at the Nickels-Sortwell house, summer home of her grandparents, until her teens when her family moved permanently to a farm in Wiscasset, which was part of the Foye Grant made to her ancestors in the early 18th century.
She was an accomplished violinist, having studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music and in Paris. In 1939 she married James Alexander Ross Jr., an economist and Rhodes Scholar, who was teaching at Harvard. On their honeymoon they paddled their folding boat down the Thames, Rhine and the Rhone rivers in Europe, returning to the U.S. just as war was breaking out.
They first lived in Syracuse, N.Y., where Jim taught at the Maxwell School of Business and where their first child, Wendy Sortwell Ross, was born.
In 1942 they moved to Washington, D.C., where Jim began working for the federal government, leading to a career that took them to India, Pakistan, Germany and Okinawa. Following Jim’s retirement in the mid-1960s he was awarded a Fulbright and they returned to Karachi, Pakistan, where he taught economics. Following that they moved permanently to Wiscasset, to a house they owned on the Sortwell family farm, but, due to Jim’s health, spent the winter months in Barbados until his death in 1981.
On all the overseas assignments, Betty wrote to friends and relatives about her adventures. The letters were treasured for years because they were so funny. In person, she was a hilarious storyteller and mimic.
In Maine, Betty became an accomplished water colorist, painting landscapes of Maine, and of the many countries she had visited over the years. Her paintings fill her home and hang in the homes of many of her friends.
Following her husband’s death, she also continued to travel widely, returning to places she had lived previously, and visiting new ones.
She is remembered for her quick wit, her energy, her love of her family and family pets, her prodigious reading, her interest in world and national affairs, and her contributions to causes she believed in.
In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by an infant son; parents; and brother, Daniel R. Sortwell Jr.
She is survived by her sister Virginia (Sally) Brun; daughter, Wendy Ross Eichler and husband Tom Eichler of Jefferson; grandsons, James Andrew Eichler of Pacific Palisades, Cal., Christopher Ross Eichler of Washington, D.C., Eric Eichler of Albuquerque, N.M. and Edward Eichler and wife Timea of Williamsburg, Va.; nephews, Daniel Sortwell III and wife Claudia of Wiscasset and Colombia; Edward (Terry) Sortwell and wife Melinda of Camden and their two children Joseph and Julia; and niece, Dr. Cynthia Sortwell and partner Jessie of South Portland and their child, Sidara; and many other Sortwell relatives.
Celebration of Betty’s life 2 p.m., Thurs., Dec. 30 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset. A burial ceremony for family only will take place later.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Wiscasset Public Library, 21 High St., Wiscasset, ME 04578 or to Miles Home Health and Hospice, 40 Belvedere Rd., Damariscotta, ME 04543.
To offer words of condolence to the family and sign a guest book, go to the obituary section at www.hallfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are under the guidance of Hall Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 949 Main St., Waldoboro.
