Betty Joan Spiller

Betty Joan Spiller passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at Vernon Green Nursing Home. She was 94.
Betty was born on September 30, 1930, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Alfred and Elizabeth Anderson. She grew up in Shrewsbury and, along with her sister Alva, loved going to school dances, skiing at Ward Hill, sewing dresses, and sharing a Swedish smorgasbord every Christmas with lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins.
In 1952, Betty graduated from Framingham State College with a degree in home economics. She met Merrill Spiller on a blind date while at college, and the two were married on May 15, 1954. After Merrill's term of service in the Army was up, the couple settled in North Easton, Massachusetts, where they raised their two children.
Betty worked as a teacher and then as a substitute teacher in the Easton school system for more than 20 years; she taught in every one of the town's schools and willingly stepped in to cover any subject, from music to math, phys. ed. to English. She was an expert seamstress who created countless outfits for her children and grandchildren (and their dolls), reupholstered furniture, and even sewed a 9-by-12-foot canvas extension for the family camping tent.
Betty was an active member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for many years and an integral part of the church's women's service groups. Betty was also involved with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts; she chaperoned several snowy winter camping weekends, gamely and cheerfully sleeping in the cold and cooking over an open fire.
Betty and Merrill both loved the outdoors, and camping vacations were a highlight of every summer, first in that big canvas tent and later in a motorhome. In 1978, they and their two teenagers took a six-week cross-country trip. Over the next four decades the couple continued to travel the United States while nurturing connections with family and friends; eventually they visited all 50 states. In 2017 Betty and Merrill moved from North Easton to Vernon, Vermont. Their loving partnership lasted almost 70 years, until Merrill's death in January 2024.
Betty is survived by her son, Douglas (Yong Hee) Spiller and daughter, Cheryl (Stephen) Redmond as well as granddaughters Laura (Adam) Sobel, Kimberly Spiller (Marc Weiss), and Genevieve Redmond. She is predeceased by her husband, Merrill Spiller, and sister, Alva Struzziery.
A memorial service celebrating Betty's life will be held at the Guilford Community Church in Guilford, Vermont on March 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.