ELIZABETH HOPKINS COLT

1928 - 2015

COLT, Elizabeth Hopkins 86, of Hanover, NH, died March 17, 2015, at Kendal at Hanover. Betsy was born in Boston on September 5, 1928, grew up in Wellesley, and graduated from Wellesley High School in 1946. She attended Vassar College, where she served as class president. Following graduation from Vassar in 1950, she worked at the Ford Foundation in New York and MIT in Cambridge. Betsy met David Colt at a ski movie in Cambridge. They married in 1955 and moved to Weston where Betsy helped establish the METCO program, a voluntary racial integration project in the Weston schools. In the 1980s she worked at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. After moving to Williamstown in 1988, Betsy worked for the Williamstown Conservation Commission, the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation and Williams College. Betsy taught herself to play the piano while a young child and was a lifelong volunteer accompanist for countless school, church, and community singing and theatre groups. During the 1970s she sang with the Boston Symphony as an alto in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Later, she took up the oboe. In Williamstown, she played piano in the jazz band, the Billville Baileys. When she moved to Kendal in 2008, she continued to play the piano for holiday pageants and other events. Music, especially piano, remained Betsy's life-long passion. She was most at ease sitting at the piano playing just about any popular tune in just about any key. Betsy was predeceased by her brother, John. Survivors include her husband, David, children Anne Colt (and David) Stewart of McLean, VA, Stephen Colt (and Anne Gore) of Anchorage, AK, and Thomas Colt (and Megan) of Pittsburgh, PA. Betsy also leaves behind two sisters, two brothers-in-law, 10 nieces and nephews, and many dear friends. To view an online memorial and or send a message of condolence to the family, please visit, www.rand-wilson.com. No services are planned at this time. Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of HANOVER, NH.