Elizabeth Frazier Karplus

1925 - 2021

BORN

1925

DIED

2021

Elizabeth Karplus Obituary

1925 - 2021
Elizabeth "Betty" (Frazier) Karplus passed away at home in Orinda, California, on September 22, 2021, aged 96. Born on March 22, 1925 to Congregational minister Rev. William Fiske Frazier, Sr. and Minnie Hart Frazier in Burlington, Vermont, Betty and her family moved to Connecticut in 1934. As a child she spent summers driving around the western US, as her father visited communities, congregations, and church camps during the Great Depression and "Dust Bowl" years. During World War II, she worked as a welder for Yale & Towne to fund her bachelor's degree in physics from Oberlin, continuing to Wellesley for a physics master's degree. While there she had a summer job typing the manual for the Eniac IV computer for Grace Hopper. She also met Robert "Bob" Karplus, a Harvard graduate student. They married in 1948 and moved to Princeton, where Bob worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer and Betty ran the radiochemistry lab. Some evenings, she also helped John von Neumann test his early computer programs by doing the same calculations on a Marchant calculator to see if the computer got the correct answer. The family moved to California in 1954 when Bob accepted a physics faculty position at UC Berkeley.

Betty was always ready for adventure, and a passion for education and service infused her life. She helped Bob with research on how children reason and with developing the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS)-an early hands-on science curriculum for elementary schools. With colleagues she published in math education and was a pioneer in protecting rights of students with disabilities. After her youngest child was born with cerebral palsy, she was motivated to earn a master's degree in special education, spending the last 18 years of her teaching career as a high school resource specialist. She also served on the Orinda School Board, and was honored as Orinda's 1982 Citizen of the Year. Betty retired from teaching in 1986, launching her 30-year "volunteer career:" leading a program at Mills College to train scientists and engineers as teachers, serving the Peace Corps in Jamaica, teaching English in China, becoming an Americorps leader, bringing weekly hands-on science lessons to local elementary schools, and helping in many ways at her church. For her exceptional contributions to science education, Betty was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2019.

Betty is survived by her seven children-Beverly Hartline (Fred), Peggy Hellweg (Horst Rademacher), Richard Karplus (Michelle Delore), Barbara Karplus (Rod Womer), Andy Karplus (Karen), David Karplus (Catie), and Peter Karplus–16 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, brother-in-law Martin Karplus (Marci), ten nieces and nephews, and many, many dear friends. She was pre-deceased by her husband, Bob, her parents, and her four brothers. Her legacy of caring, curiosity, and commitment to action will live on in all those she touched.

Donations in her memory can be sent to the 'Robert and Elizabeth Karplus Outdoor Nature Lab' under construction at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley (https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.edu/karplus-outdoor-nature-lab).

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by New York Times from Sep. 30 to Oct. 1, 2021.

Memories and Condolences
for Elizabeth Karplus

5 Entries

Christina Elliott

November 26, 2021

"A life well lived" is how I remember Betty. She contributed to the lives of so very many people even those not yet born, as her legacy in education will touch others for generations. The last two times I saw Betty in person: the first in a local gym at 6:30 AM, I stopped by to visit on my way to work. There she was physically, intellectually, and socially active. It was the start of a wonderful day! The last time I saw Betty was when Orinda Community Church reopened for in-person worship service. We picked up our conversation right where we had left off a couple years earlier. On another personal note, Betty saw in me the potential to be a public school teacher and believed so much in me that she funded a significant portion of my educational cost to attend St. Mary's College to earn a secondary teaching credential. Betty and her beliefs and convictions changed my life for the better. My heart felt condolences to Betty's family and friends.

Rich Walker

October 1, 2021

Betty was among the most thoughtful, kind and capable people I have ever met. I was Bob's special assistant shortly after his stroke, so I lived with them for a time. I am grateful to have known and worked with her, and to be a friend of the amazing Karplus family. Most of all, thank you, Betty, for being such a truly great person.

Kathe Schneider Gogolewski

October 1, 2021

Betty had a major impact on me as a young woman, an impact that has carried throughout my life. Our families were friends, and as a young girl and a classmate of Beverly´s, I still remember Bob Karplus visiting our classroom and introducing a small wooden figure he called "Mr. O." A couple decades later and after Bob had passed, I came to live with Betty for 2 ½ years with my toddler daughter, Rose, while working to get my teaching credential and MA in education. I share the story of Betty´s selflessness to this day.

As a single mom and a student, there were times when I struggled to make the rent to pay for my upstairs room in the Karplus home where Rose and I stayed. Whenever I tried to let Betty know that I would be able to pay in a few days, she would give me the same response: "Don't worry about it." She also seemed to sense when my grocery budget ran low, and would make certain that Rose and I enjoyed a good meal. Whenever I needed help getting a hands-on lesson together for the children in my church, she behaved as if I were doing her a favor. She would rush downstairs to that treasure trove of materials organized in pullout drawers, and produce exactly what I needed! And perhaps the most cherished of all for me were those evenings and afternoons when she sat with me for an hour here, and hour there, at that little table in the kitchen and we talked about life. Her kindness and wisdom launched me into a rewarding and rich career that has provided immeasurable meaning in my life. I am forever grateful. I also realize I was one of many who received these special blessings from Betty. She was a great, great lady, and I loved her very much.

Barbara

September 30, 2021

Mom, thanks for giving us life, sharing your life with us, and showing us how to live.

Beverly

September 30, 2021

She was a great mom, aunt, wife, sister, grandmother, friend, and teacher.

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