IN APPRECIATION

Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Delong

1922-2019

COOPERSTOWN – Mary Elizabeth (Betty) DeLong, who just finishing up her 96th year, has passed away.

Born in Bloomsburg, Pa., on May 1, 1922, an only child of Catharine Mason and H. Boyd Hagenbuch, she married Don DeLong and then began her travels around the country with her three children, Doug, Devon and Brian, settling in Silver Spring, Md.

She moved to Cooperstown in 2014 to live very happily at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home, where she was thrilled to partake in so many activities.

She thoroughly enjoyed her Wednesday art class with Fred, where she fashioned jewelry that she shared with friends and family, and Bingo winners, evening card playing, casino night, which was her opportunity to win gifts for the Holidays.

There was John’s version of Antiques Roadshow, where she presented numerous family pieces for his appraisal, to the kitchen staff, Laurie, Darcie and Diane, who prepared and served her family recipes for shoofly cake or pie at dessert time.  If it was the opera, concert series, evening band concert, and the ride around the lake to watch for birds and the trees turning their seasonal colors, Betty hopped on.

Over the last few months, she was especially fond of the happy hour just so she could have her ginger ale in a wine glass, share her cheese bits with Jack, while watching the deer pass by and the birds at the feeder.

In addition to her three children and their spouses, she and Don had four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.  To them, she passed on a love for growing vegetables, making pickles and tomato juice, eating Maryland crab cakes, and picking fruits off tree or bush.

Betty considered CWTHome her home and every staff member and resident a very dear friend. Oh, and she LOVED good chocolate!