Betty Brook passed away November 13, 2020 in Sarasota, Florida.  She was 101 years old.

Born on October 15,1919 in Stronghurst, to John Cecil Brook and Maude Simonson Brook, Elizabeth Carothers Brook was the "baby sister" of five siblings — Gail Burket, John Brook, Sarah Peasley, Herbert Brook, and Edith Brook.
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She graduated from Stronghurst High School and continued her education at Knox College in Galeburg, Ill., where she sang in the Glee Club, received a prize in Latin Composition, was in the French Club, became a lifelong member of TriDelta Sorority, and graduated with a BA in History.

Following college, she taught history for a year.  But she was already thinking of travel, and during WWII she joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), part of the US Naval Reserve attaining the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade while serving in Washington, DC. After the war ended, she joined the U.S. State Department Foreign Service, where she worked for 28 years.

During her career with the Foreign Service, she was posted all over the world, serving in many of the hotspots of the day. Including Nigeria, Venezuela, Turkey, Morocco, Kenya and Germany. She was the Secretary to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in Saigon, Vietnam, when the embassy was bombed, for which she received a medal for Civilian Service.  Her favorite posting was Beirut, Lebanon, in the late 1940s.  She was always circumspect about her postings, summing up her jobs with a smile saying, "We worked hard and we played hard!"

Betty retired in 1984 to Sarasota, Florida, where she volunteered for several arts organizations and her sorority, and played golf and contract bridge. She was a member of the Church of the Palms in Sarasota. She decorated her house with art and artifacts brought back from the many places she lived. In 2006, she moved to the Glenridge on Palmer Ranch, where she lived for the rest of her life.

For many years, Betty returned every summer to Stronghurst.  It fell to Betty to clean up several old barns and implements on the family farm in Raritan Township, earning her the family nickname, "Bulldozer Betty"

Friends and family remember Betty as lively, polite and elegant.  She was an accomplished contract bridge player and could be cut-throat when needed.  She enjoyed a daily glass of "Char-don-nay", as she pronounced it with a twinkle in her eye.

In 2013 she told a reporter, 'I spent 28 years traveling the world. I grew up in a little town and always said, 'I'm going to get out of here', and I did… I'm the type of person who enjoys whatever she's doing; it makes life easier.  Wherever I went, I found a nice group of people. I always had friends. I think it's true in life that friends are the most important."

Betty is remembered fondly by her nieces and nephews: Elaine Harwood, Anne Burket, Margaret Boyce, John, David and Susan Brook; grandnieces and grandnephew: Sherryanne Porter, Betsy Boyce and James Brook, as well as a great-grandniece and great-grandnephews.

She was buried next to her brother, John Brook, in the Stronghurst Cemetery, last Monday. A memorial service is planned for her 102 ^nd birthday, after the pandemic has ended.

Funeral arrangements by Banks and Beals Funeral Homes, Stronghurst, Illinois: (309) 924-1501