We called her, “Mom.” She was bright, beautiful, bountiful, and brave. This wonderful daughter, sister, wife, devoted mother of four, grandmother of eighteen, great-grandmother to one and devout follower of Jesus Christ is now with our Lord and Savior. She personified Solomon’s description of “A wife of noble character” in Proverbs 31:10-31.
Known as “Betsy” to family and friends, she was born in Somerset, PA, to James Roy Stuart and Frances Lesesne Dornin and raised on their beloved family farm with her two older sisters, Sally Hunt Stuart and Tait Stuart (Livingood). They all predeceased her.
Betsy graduated from Somerset County High School in 1963, attended Longwood College in Virginia and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1967. She accepted employment with the Hecht Company in Maryland, where she quickly became a retail sales manager.
One of her salesclerks, Kathy Finneran, arranged a blind date for Betsy with her cousin, Midshipman Oliver L. North who was completing his final year at the US Naval Academy. He won her hand and Betsy helped pin Second Lieutenant’s bars on the shoulders of her newly commissioned Marine Officer on June 6th, 1968. They were married on November 13, 1968, at the U.S. Marine Memorial Chapel in Quantico, Virginia.
Their planned month-long, cross-country honeymoon drive across America was abbreviated by emergency orders for him to report ASAP for deployment to Vietnam. Her response: “If we team-drive, non-stop, we can be in California on time.” They did.
When Betsy gave birth in U.S. Naval Hospital, Bethesda, to Elizabeth Tait, the firstborn of four children, she mailed a photo to her wounded husband in Vietnam, showing another wounded U.S. Marine holding their day-old daughter. On the back of the picture Betsy wrote: “Our daughter is beautiful. Praying you live to hold her. Love, Betsy.”
Over the next thirteen years, she delivered Stuart, Sarah, and Dornin, all in Naval hospitals. As a “military migrant family,” Betsy packed and unpacked our household effects and dried our tears at leaving friends as we moved eight times, in and out of military housing and four homes she found, arranged mortgages to buy, and sold, always for a profit.
At every “duty station” she found “a church for us to worship together,” and the best educational opportunity for each of us from home school to public, Christian and private schools throughout our childhoods. She tutored us in every subject from math to manners and coached us through college applications.
THE AMAZING KRESKIN, GEORGE KRESGE JR., DEAD AT 89
An accomplished equestrienne, Betsy inspired her girls to succeed aboard increasingly challenging mounts from ponies to horses competing in international events. Somehow, she made time to watch and encourage Stuart in Tee-ball, baseball, wrestling, lacrosse, soccer, and football. She loved to introduce Stuart as her “favorite son.”
Betsy knew the rules of every sport in which we were engaged and could accurately protest what she deemed a “bad call” by a judge, umpire or referee. When the outcome of an event, match, or game was less than we hoped for, she would inspire us with: “Today was a learning experience, so you can do better next time.”
In 1981, Dad was assigned to duty on President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council staff. For better than five years none of us, Betsy included, knew much about what Dad was doing, though it seemed he was gone more than he was home. All that changed in November 1986. Suddenly, our house in Great Falls, VA was surrounded 24/7 for months by scores of reporters and cameras.
From 1986-1991, Betsy was a rock of stability and affection for our family during Congressional hearings and the longest, most expensive “Special Counsel” prosecution in U.S. History. Throughout, her consistent admonition to us all was: “Stop reading the headlines of the ‘Washington Compost!’ Read your Bible instead. This is all going to end well!” Eventually, it did.
FRED HARRIS, FORMER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM OKLAHOMA AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, DIES AT 94
In February 1987, the FBI determined an Islamic Jihad terror cell was covertly preparing an attack on our home. To protect us, the Naval Intelligence Service secretly transported us to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina – making Betsy the first military wife and mother since the Civil War to be forced to flee her home because of her husband’s service.
We moved to Narnia Farm in Clarke County, Virginia in 1990, the same year Dad founded Freedom Alliance. Betsy loved being surrounded by cattle, horses, and hosting family and friends from around the world in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, above the Shenandoah River. All three daughters celebrated our marriages here. When Betsy’s sister Sally retired from a lifetime of teaching, Mom designed, financed, and built a lovely log cabin for her on the west slope of the mountain.
On New Year’s Day 2021, Betsy fell and broke her hip at Cair Paravel, the beautiful South Carolina beach house she designed, financed and built. In April 2021, Dad took her to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where she was diagnosed with a rare, deadly, degenerative malady: Corticobasal Syndrome.
Her comment at the time: “God has helped us adapt and overcome every adversity. Pray we can beat this one too!”
MICHAEL COLE, ‘MOD SQUAD’ STAR, DEAT AT 84
It was not to be. By year-end 2022, Betsy’s condition had deteriorated to the point where Dr. Alexis McCabe, the Winchester, VA Emergency Center’s chief medical officer and a combat decorated U.S. Marine Reserve Lt. Col, F-18 pilot, told Dad we should contact hospice.
Dad objected, “We don’t need hospice! We’re caring for her very well at home!” Dr. McCabe’s calm response: “Betsy may not need it quite yet, but you need hospice now!” He finally relented and she made the call.
Blue Ridge Hospice arrived at Narnia Farm on 9 January 2023. They were a Godsend. For nearly two years, Dr. Brendan Flynn, DO, and his phenomenal team, especially, Laura J., Lucy, Laura F., Lauren, Maria, and Leigh, et al, provided essential medical equipment, oxygen, hundreds of prescriptions, and guided us on every possible aspect of care for a dying loved one. Debra, Shannon, Tammy, Jennifer, and Princess, our five privately retained, gentle, loving, experienced, and certified caregivers were simply indispensable.
Betsy left us on November 16th, 2024, just three days after Mom and Dad’s 56th Anniversary. She is now in the loving embrace of our Lord and Savior, and we celebrate her extraordinary life. Yet, we will all miss doing with her that which she loved to do with us and so many of you.
There will be an Anglican funeral service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, Va at 11:00 am on December 21, 2024, officiated by her pastor, The Rev. Jonathan Kell, rector of Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands. Our family will welcome friends and family at the parish hall following the service. Betsy’s interment at Arlington National Cemetery will be held at a future date.
Arrangements: Hall Funeral Home www.hallfh.com 540-338-5561.
In lieu of flowers, please make a gift in Betsy’s name to any or all of the following:
Blue Ridge Hospice (www.brhospice.org/donate/)
Freedom Alliance (www.freedomalliance.org);
Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands (www.contact@oursaviouroatlands.org)
Editor’s note: This obituary of Elizabeth Stuart North was reposted from Hall Funeral Home with permission from the North family.
