- Date Of Birth: February 8, 1921
- Date Of Death: September 14, 2017
- State: Connecticut
Norwich, CT—Elizabeth Ellen (Brigham) Barrett, a remarkable woman of our nation’s Greatest Generation, the mother of sixteen children, and a beautiful servant of God, died peacefully, as she lived, on September 14, 2017.
Elizabeth, who was known as “Betty,” was among the legions of American women who effectively served as stateside soldiers during WWII. A 1943 Middlebury College graduate with a degree in sociology, Betty became a communications dispatcher at the Burlington Vermont National Airport in her hometown. She both received and dispatched aircraft in the important New York to Montreal hub during the war, a non-traditional job for women because, a she put it, the “boys” were all away fighting overseas. She instilled in her children and grandchildren a deep understanding of the value of education for women and continually reinforced the idea that girls could do anything boys could do.
While raising her family, Betty was a pioneering advocate for those who struggle with mental wellness, especially in combatting the stigma too often associated with the disease.
role model.
A 1974 New London Day feature about Betty told, among other things, of a young medical intern, newly married in 1946, who was about to become a family physician, aspiring someday to set up a medical practice in New London County with his bride Elizabeth “Betty” Brigham—and beginning a “family practice” of a type that few have undertaken. There were 16 Barrett children born in the years that followed and 12 survive Betty: Barbara Bloom of Shelburne, VT; Lawrence William of Norwich; Robert Michael (Betty Lou) of Wichita, KS; Frederick C. Jr. (Kathleen) of New London; Kathleen (Dennis) Wehmeyer of Midland, TX; Lois (Robert) Huntington of New London; Stephen Clark (Betsy) of Lisbon; Christopher Calvert of Norwich; Matthew Vincent (Elizabeth Hamilton) of Old Lyme; Elizabeth (John) Bracchitta of Nashua, NH; Theresa (Steven) Levy of Wellesley, MA; and Jane (Ron) Peterson of Boise, ID; and beloved sisters Lois Selnau of Farmington and Nancy Eldridge of Phoenix, AZ. Betty leaves 28 adoring grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. In addition to her husband, four children predeceased Betty: Edmund James; Anne M. Rapalje (Dan); Thomas Edson, and Timothy John; her parents, Clark and Ethel Brigham and brothers, Richard and Lyman Brigham, and grand-daughter, Hope Irene Bracchitta.
