Elizabeth (Betty) Foote Gill
Elizabeth (Betty) Foote Gill, passed gracefully into heaven on Sunday evening, March 12, 2023. She had lived a full and rewarding 93 years. Betty was pre-deceased by her parents, Edward and Isabel Dunham Foote, a sister Mollie May Rose (Jim), and a niece, Jamie Welch. She is survived by her daughter, Cindy Gill Frederick (David), three grandsons, Joshua, Micah, and Jeremiah, one granddaughter, Sarah Santiago (Matt), and one greatgrandson, Matthew.
Betty was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, and raised in Glastonbury, Connecticut. As a youth, she taught Children's Sunday School, sang in the choir at the Congregational Church, and worked seasonally for a neighbor at his roadside vegetable stand. One Sunday morning, eight days before her twelfth birthday, the world erupted in war. Determined to support the war effort, the young patriot played the bugle and marched in their local fife and bugle corp.
Following graduation from high school, she attended Endicott College (a two-year womens college) in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Founded in 1939, this school championed the unconventional concept of educating young women for greater independence and an enhanced position in the workplace. Following two years at Endicott, she returned to the Glastonbury China Shop where she was being trained for management, with a business plan in place to eventually buy out the owner.
At a Christmas Eve party hosted at the Foote home, romantic sparks flew when Betty met Dale Gill, a California cowboy stationed in Groton, Connecticut attending Coast Guard Boot Camp. With no cell phones, and limited landline access, letters were written daily. Finally, one missive came with an engagement ring. Betty accepted and she and her family flew to Oakland, California where they were married on March 27, 1952.
Betty, the transplanted New England girl, lived independently in Oakland while Dale finished his three-year enlistment. She did this with great skill and organization, learning to manage the San Francisco City streets and traffic, and took a job in a department store selling fine silk scarves.
When Dale completed his military duty, they returned to Springville, to live on and work for the family cattle business. Life on a ranch was certainly different than life in New
England, or at Endicott College, or even at Glastonbury China. But Betty intentionally invested in her marriage. She made herself a part of the ranch, riding horses, gathering cattle and branding calves. By listening and learning Betty Gill became a competent horsewoman.
She became an active team member in the business of ranching, often involved in the finances and transactions of importance. Being a ranchers wife didn't only involve cows, calves, and hay. Being a wife meant she also had to be prepared to feed a hungry cowboy his needed nourishment whether it was at the kitchen table, or off the back of a pickup at the corrals.
Betty volunteered as the Secretary of the Springville Methodist Church, and served as president of Tulare County Cowbelles. She later worked for several years as Secretary of Grand Avenue Methodist Church. She and Dale learned to play bridge, and delighted in their teamwork when playing against other Springville couples. She also enjoyed participating in several womens bridge groups over the years.
Though she had a highly competitive streak, she steadfastly insisted it was always for fun.
In 1958, their daughter Cindy was born. This added motherhood to Betty's many rolls, and was one which she cherished. Cindy and husband David soon gave Betty four grandchildren to love with the same enthusiasm and steadfast dedication shed given to Cindy. Granddaughter Sarah says Betty's support for her and her brothers, Was always at 1,000 percent level of devotion to us kids. You couldn't tell her not to come.
In 1996 Dale, the sailor, ping pong player, cowboy, bridge partner, and loving husband, succumbed to cancer. Betty became a widow at sixty-seven. She carried on with style and class, staying involved with bridge, church, grandkids, and life in general.
Many of us who knew Betty Gill will remember receiving a Christmas card and a birthday card every year without fail. College roommates from her days at Endicott, all now in their mid-nineties, have received both Christmas and birthday cards every year since college days, seventy-five years ago.
Sarah declared, She died the way she lived, with family, love, and faith leading her home to the Lord.