Elizabeth Burns Dies At 85

Elizabeth “Betsy” Jane Burns

Elizabeth “Betsy” Jane Burns died at Southampton Hospital on Thursday, July 7, after a long illness. She was 85.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey, on May 5, 1926, she was the daughter of Marie Louise Keller Hogan and Vernon William Hogan. She graduated Tenafly High School in 1943. Immediately following graduation, Ms. Burns went to work in Manhattan for Strong Oil Company until the company relocated to Texas in 1956. At that time, she married Calvin C. Burns and lived in Bogota, New Jersey, where the couple started to raise their family. In 1971, the family relocated to North Haven until she and her husband retired to Jensen Beach, Florida, in 1985. They both returned back north to be closer to their children and resided on Oak View Highway in East Hampton. She recently moved to Windmill Village II on Accabonac Road in East Hampton.

Ms. Burns was a kind and loving person who always put her family and friends before herself, the family said, adding, she always found something nice to say about anyone she met. She and her family endured the difficulties of growing up in the Great Depression, surviving encephalitis during the toughest years. Knowing what it is like to have nothing, she always showed great compassion for the less fortunate. And, coupled with her sense of humor, she always had a positive attitude in the worst of times.

She volunteered as a Pink Lady for Southampton Hospital in the mid 1970s. She was ordained a deacon in the Old Whalers’ Presbyterian Church in Sag Harbor in April of 1982. She was known for her beautiful hand-knit fisherman’s sweaters and even donated them for local fundraisers. She enjoyed all types of needle crafts and was a member of the Cornell Cooperative Home Extension and a Sag Harbor quilters group, contributing her talent on quilts to be auctioned off for charities. Even during her declining health, she continued to crochet and knit baby blankets and hats for the needy in the Caribbean islands.

She is survived by her three children: Robert and his wife Christina of Sag Harbor, Virginia and her husband Steven Griffiths of East Hampton, and Charles and his wife Robin of Massachusetts; three grandchildren, Matthew Griffiths of East Hampton, Brendan and Julia Burns of Sag Harbor and a step-granddaughter, Lauren Adams of Massachusetts; four brothers, John “Jack” Hogan and his wife Birte of North Carolina, George Hogan and his wife Joan of Connecticut, J. Richard Hogan of New Jersey, and William Butler Hogan and his wife Susan of Pennsylvania; and 13 nieces and nephews. In 2006 she was predeceased by her husband of almost 50 years, Calvin C. Burns.

A memorial service has been set for Saturday, October 1, at the First United Methodist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, and in late October her ashes will be spread over the waters of East Hampton.

Memorial donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice or to the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, 1 Cedar Street, East Hampton, NY 11937.