Elizabeth Anderson - Obituary

lizabeth Bamah "Betty" Anderson, age 73, a 35 year resident of Lothian and previously of Davidsonville died on Tuesday, December 3 at her residence after a 3 year battle with cancer. Born on July 30, 1940 in Washington, D.C. to the late Ernest Henry John and Mary Elizabeth Nowottnick. Betty graduated in 1958 from Annapolis High School where she was a drum majorette. She retired from the Davidsonville Post Office where she worked as a mail carrier, drove a school bus for Aisquith, was a Volkswagen service writer at Bay Volkswagen, a customer service representative for Volkswagen of America, a telephone operator at C&P Telephone and a Real Estate Broker at Chris Coile/Merrill Lynch. Betty was the second female customer service representative on the east coast for Volkswagen of America, got her motorcycle operators license in 1974 and drove a car in a demolition derby. She was a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Gambrills, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Lothian, the Annapolis Quilt Guild and the South County Quilting Bee. She enjoyed quilting, motorcycling, cooking, camping with her grandchildren on the beach at Assateague and travelling with her husband. In addition to her parents, Betty was preceded in death by her daughter, Jacqueline E. Messineo. She is survived by her husband, Robert “Andy” Anderson who she married in 1983; a son, Roy L. Gertz of Davidsonville; two daughters, Mary L. Sines of Lothian and Helena “Missy” Hopkins of Huntingtown; two sisters, Emma Davis of Seneca, IL and Emilie Schutte of Davidsonville; four grandsons, Justin Hopkins of Promise City, IA, Mark Hopkins of Lothian, Jason Messineo of Edgewater and Garrett Gertz of Davidsonville, a granddaughter, Elizabeth Sines of Halethorpe and a great grandson Landon Reiff. Friends are invited to Betty’s Life Celebration from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8pm on Sunday at the George P. Kalas Funeral Home, 2973 Solomons Island Rd., Edgewater. Funeral service will be held at 11am on Monday, December 9 at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 122 Bayard Rd., Lothian. Internment is at Hillcrest Cemetery in Annapolis. An online guestbook is available by clicking the link on this page. **The following article appeared at an earlier date in the Capital Newspaper** With thousands of minute, precise stitches, Betty Anderson, of Lothian, combats the pain of cancer. An accomplished seamstress, Mrs. Anderson sews and distributes quilts to those who are suffering cancer's ravages.Last month she donated eight of her beautiful handmade quilts to Hospice of the Chesapeake for use in their new Harwood facility. The quilts were given in memory of her daughter, Jackie Messineo, who died from cancer in 1999 at the age of 39. "The hospice folks are the most wonderful group of people," said Mrs. Anderson. "Just marvelous people. They almost became family. Hospice was just wonderful." From July to Sept. 28, 1999, hospice care helped the family survive Jackie's tragic illness and death. As the new facility was being built in Harwood, Mrs. Anderson knew that she wanted to do something for the organization that had supported her family through its crisis. "I go up Route 2 all the time. I kept passing it and then, one day, it just popped into my head." Mrs. Anderson contacted Anne Marie Passagno at Hospice House. "I asked her, 'Would you accept quilts if I make one for each bed?' " That was in April. By July 31 Mrs. Anderson had completed eight quilts, ranging in size from crib to those for single beds. To finish the project in time, Mrs. Anderson went to her stash of UFOs - Unfinished Objects - stored in her home's closets. "I quilted these by machine," she said. "I wanted them to be used every day so they needed to be sturdy. You can just throw them in the washing machine. I had some quilt tops so I started adding the backs. I wanted to give them to Hospice House and know they are going to be used." Still, Mrs. Anderson was somewhat hesitant about donating the quilts. "They've got really elegant rooms there," she said. "I wasn't sure how the quilts would fit in." However, she recalled Jackie curling up in a quilt during her bouts of pain, finding comfort in the soft folds of the fabric, and decided to go forward with her plan. Following her daughter's death, Mrs. Anderson has given away numerous quilts to other cancer patients. Quilts have gone to a neighbor with pancreatic cancer, children with leukemia, and a friend with brain cancer. Both she and her husband, Andy, are also cancer survivors. "Our family has been touched by cancer an awful lot," she said quietly. Mrs. Anderson began quilting 20 years ago when a friend encouraged her to try it. "I thought to myself, 'I don't have time for all these little stitches," she said with a laugh. "Little did I know it would become an addiction. I just love it. I could stay in there (her sewing room) all day." The closet and shelves in the sewing room are filled with piles of colorful fabrics. A three-ring binder holding patterns, designs, and pictures of quilts lies on a nearby shelf. "Chinese Coins," "Delectable Mountains," "Bouncing Betty," "Flying Geese" and "Through Grandma's Window" are pattern names of some of the exquisite quilts she's created. "I especially like to do applique," said Mrs. Anderson. "I'll work on something off and on for a year. I'll have it cooking on the back burner and then I'll get an inspiration to finish. Sometimes it's when someone needs a gift." Mrs. Anderson sews on a 20-year-old Bernina 1130. "I take it with me to the beach," she laughed. "I take my chair with the back cushion, too." Mrs. Anderson learned to sew while living on the family farm in Davidsonville. "Dad raised chickens. Mother sold eggs on egg routes every Friday in Annapolis," she said. "I learned to sew on feed sacks. She taught me on a sewing machine with a knee bar. I made my own clothes when the kids were little. I've done reupholstering and curtains. Now I just sew for the joy of it."