Betsy Moriarty

Betsy Moriarty, a longtime resident of the Lake Region and reporter for The Bridgton News, died on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, at Fryeburg Healthcare Center. She was 91.

Born Elizabeth Richards Moriarty Jr. in Utica, N.Y. on April 18, 1924, Betsy was a daughter of the late Alfred Irving Moriarty and Elizabeth Richards Moriarty. Her mother was Assistant Director of the former Camp Accomac on Peabody Pond in South Bridgton (now Camp Micah.) She first brought Betsy to Bridgton in the summer of 1924, the start of a lifelong love of the area. In 1955, her parents bought a house on Long Lake in Naples and the family spent summers here until Betsy and her mother moved to Naples permanently in 1969.

Betsy spent her childhood in New Jersey and graduated from Kent Place School in 1941. She received a bachelor’s of arts degree from Smith College in 1945 and a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 1946. She maintained ties to Smith College all her adult life, serving as president of the Princeton NJ Smith Club and as a member of the Smith Club of Maine. She sold Smith pecans every holiday season to raise money for scholarships.

After graduating from Smith College, Betsy worked as a reporter for the Newark News in Newark, N.J. At that time, she was one of two female reporters working for the paper. In 1971, the late Eula Shorey hired Betsy as a reporter for The Bridgton News. Betsy worked for the BN for many years and continued to work part-time after she “retired.” She was a member of the Maine Press Association, attended conventions and won her share of Better Newspaper Awards. Betsy was an old school newspaperwoman. She loved the newspaper business and she loved her BN family.

She was active in local organizations, serving for several years on the Naples Planning Board and as a librarian at the Naples Public Library. Betsy also belonged to the Bridgton Rotary. However, her true passion was volunteering for the Downeast Chapter of Maine AFS. For more than 25 years, Betsy was president of the adult AFS group. She worked closely with volunteers from around the state of Maine and locally, with Bonnie Thumm Edwards, Lake Region High School AFS advisor. Betsy placed AFS students in local homes and wore many hats during her AFS tenure, including opening her own home to several AFS students.

Betsy is survived by her cousin, Ruth Morris Zippler of Denville, N.J.; nephews Jay Lordan of Cambridge, Mass. and Kevin Lordan of Medford, Mass.; and her AFS daughters, Sharyn Wilson of Australia and Romina (Romi) Pacheco, PhD candidate at New Mexico State University, of Northampton, Mass.

There will be a memorial service for Betsy at the Hall Funeral Home in Casco on Saturday, Nov. 28, at 2 p.m. Friends are cordially invited to attend. Burial will take place in Chatham, N.J. at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, Betsy asked that donations be made in her name to Downeast Maine AFS Team, c/o Nancy Basselet, 80 Ring Landing Rd., Casco, ME 04015. Donations can also be made online at http://www.afsusa.org/downeast-maine/