Elizabeth Spangler Evans, of Camden, died April 4 after a long and healthy life beautifully lived. Betty Evans was born Elizabeth Anderson Spangler in Bangor on Nov. 7, 1911, the first child of Edward Webster Spangler and Lillian Fellows Spangler. Betty grew up in Bangor and spent her summers in Winterport. After graduation from Bangor High School Betty attended Concord Academy in Concord, Mass. and went on to Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., graduating in 1933 with a B.A. in Botany.
Betty’s early work was at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in the summers of 1932 through 1934, where she was the first female collector of marine specimens. She continued her love of the Laboratory visiting every summer. Betty also worked for the Pathology Department of Columbia Medical School until her marriage in 1938 to Theodore Evans of Lansdowne, Penn.
Betty and Ted were married on Dec. 28, 1938 and raised their three children in Media, Moylan and Wallingford, Penn. Betty was involved with Family Service of Delaware County, United Way, the Girl Scouts of America, and she was an American Red Cross Gray Lady at the Philadelphia Veterans Hospital. Betty became a real estate sales woman for Margaret G. Pine Real Estate after her children were in high school.
Ted and Betty retired early, he and Betty bought a VW camper in Germany and spent a year traveling through Europe. A few years later they took a trip around the world on a freighter. After these adventures they moved to Maine and built a home on Western Bay at Oak Point from which they enjoyed worldwide travels until Ted’s death in 1983. Betty then moved to Camden where she was active in bridge groups, the Monday Club and volunteering at Penobscot Bay Medical Center.
Betty enjoyed music and was a subscriber to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra and Bay Chamber Concerts. She was an excellent bridge player, a fine knitter, a great cook, enjoyed skiing, hiking and any and every social event.
Betty’s sister Juliet Spangler Kellogg predeceased her a year ago.
She is survived by her three children, William (Bill) Fellows Evans and wife Sarah Crosby of Waldoboro, Elizabeth (Betsy) Spangler Evans and husband Dick Cleveland of Newcastle and Katherine (Kit) Carhart Evans Pfeiffer of Camden; sister, Mary Frances Spangler Eddy and husband Robert of Camden; four grandchildren, Edward Webster Seidel and wife Lisa Katz of Damariscotta, Charles Walter Seidel of San Francisco, Cal., Sarah Spangler Pfeiffer McCarthy and husband Mitchell McCarthy of Bangor, Katherine Valenti Pfeiffer and husband Anders Engstrom of Copenhagen, Denmark; three great-grandchildren, Theodore Louis Katz Seidel and Tobias Evan Katz Seidel of Damariscotta, and Maisie McCarthy of Bangor; and numerous nieces and nephews.
There will be a celebration of Betty’s life at a later date.
Those who wish to contribute in Betty’s memory may make gifts to Fields Pond Audubon Center, 216 Fields Pond Rd., Holden, ME 04429 or Bay Chamber Concerts, 58 Bay View St., Camden, ME 04843.
