Betty Jane Light

Betty Jane Light, born in Queens, NY and raised in Chappaqua until 1961, she moved to Elizabethtown (God's Country) to present. Married to Kempton, she had five children; five grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

She worked for Independent Cement Company, a Canadian company with offices in Elizabethtown. She served as a Girl Scout leader for twelve years and assisted in 4-H for five years. Betty was a 70 plus-year member of The American Legion Auxiliary through the service of her husband, a U.S. Navy Sea Bee in WW2. She served on all levels in the Auxiliary and was elected to NYS President in 1992, with a membership of 58,000 patriotic women.

Betty became a Veteran's Administration volunteer in 1958, attending all 13 VA hospitals and 5 NYS veteran's nursing homes to promote volunteerism. Betty volunteered at the VA Clinic in Elizabethtown Hospital for 18 years and was a member of RSVP. Since 1985, Betty was a member of the NYS Chapter of Freedoms Foundation, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, serving on the board for the George Washington Awards for Teachers promoting American History. She was a member of the National and NYS American Legion Press Association and has supported POW/MIA programs in NYS.

Betty served 18 yeas as Chairman of the American Legion Auxiliary College Credit Program through the Board of Regents Noncollegiate Programs and served in all capacities in the Empire Girls State Committee, a program on political science for teenage women since 1975 and serving on the National Committee for one year in Washington, D.C.

Betty was a member of the Essex County Women's Republican Club since 1965. In 2006, she was honored to receive the Mary Prime Award for community service. She was a Cobble Hill Red Hatter since 2007. Since 1965, Betty has been an active member of The Church of the Good Shepherd, having served on the Vestry and President of the Women's Group (LOGS). Betty was instrumental, with the help of the American Legion Post 551 in bringing the Essex County Veteran's Cemetery to a reality.

She helped create the construction of a memory wall at the Veteran's cemetery and promoted "Wreaths Across America" for our veteran's interred in our veteran's cemetery. Of late, Betty still served through local veterans and through her church visits to the sick and homebound, if only for a cup of tea, a flower, and prayer time.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 10:00 to 12:30 at the Church of the Good Shepherd Parish Hall in Elizabethtown with a Memorial Service following at the Church at 1:00.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Betty's honor to the Essex County Veteran's Cemetery, PO Box 217, Elizabethtown, NY 12932 and to the Elizabethtown-Lewis EMS, PO Box 443, Elizabethtown, NY 12932.

Services were entrusted to Heidrick Funeral Home, PO Box 188, Elizabethtown, NY 12932.