North Haverhill, NH —Beverly R. Ellithorpe, 90, passed away on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at the Grafton County Nursing Home after several years struggling with health issues. She was surrounded in her last hours by loving family members.

Bev was born on August 24, 1929 in Waterbury, CT. She spent her first six years in Lake Placid, NY, where her dear father was Assistant Headmaster of the Northwood School. The family then moved to Monson, MA where her Dad was Headmaster at the former Monson Academy from 1935 until his retirement in 1966. She attended school there, graduating in 1947 and then went on to Tufts University in Medford, MA where she earned her B.A.—summa cum laude--in the Classics. She married her first husband, Lawrence N. Reed, in 1948 and they had two sons (Larry and Glenn).

Bev worked for a few years in the Boston area at the Widener Library at Harvard University and then the Malden Press before moving around a lot with her first husband: Baltimore, Chicago and then Atlanta. After divorcing and spending several years back in Monson with her parents, Bev remarried William (Bill) Ellithorpe in 1966 and was with him for 54 wonderful years until her passing.

Bev taught English, French and Spanish, first at Monson Academy and then at Palmer High School in MA for three years from 1965 through 1968. She particularly enjoyed directing junior class students participating in the annual play competition and she helped those drama students win first place a couple of times. After a year in Springfield, VT, she and the family ended up back in Palmer for three years and then moved up to "the North Country" to Orford, NH in 1972, where Bill was Principal for eight years at the former Orford High School. In 1974 Bev, Bill and Glenn (Larry gone to college) moved to their beloved "farm" and its 22 acres on Romance Lane in Newbury and Bill and Bev remained there for 46 years.

Bev continued to substitute teach on occasion for many years while in Orford and Newbury, including for a time at Hanover High School and local schools such as BMU in Wells River. She was also the librarian for a couple of years at the Haverhill Academy in NH.

Bev was always a committed and caring resident of Newbury—a town that she quickly learned to love and where she always had a wonderful, supportive network of friends that are too numerous to list! Her family always realized just how many friends she'd made over the years during every holiday season when Bev dutifully sent cards with hand-written, detailed letters to all of them. When visiting Palmer, Cape Cod or other places where she had friends or any family she would always make a point of trying to spend time visiting with them.

During her many years in Newbury she was active with the Newbury Women's Club, served on various committees, and volunteered at the Mustard Seed Thrift Store. The Newbury Congregational Church was also extremely important to Bev and she sang in the choir for all of her years in town. She was particularly proud of serving as Co-Director of the Church choir and was also a Church deacon for a time.

Bev always had an adventurous spirit and instilled this in her sons. She loved travel more than most anything, although cutthroat games of cribbage, gin rummy or Scrabble would certainly rank a close second! Sometimes friends or family would be shocked by the names that might fly if she, Bill or Glenn got "skunked" playing cribbage!

As for travel, just suggest a trip and Bev would be packing (always too much) at the drop of a hat. She and Bill traveled many times to the Maritime provinces and Gaspe Peninsula in Canada, as well as down to Florida where they spent eight happy winters playing cribbage in the warm sun or walking the beaches. On the trips back and forth from there they'd always frequent historical sites like Gettysburg or Harpers Ferry. They also spent many summers over in Maine--where Bill raced his standard-breds at the town fairs. She grew to be a horse racing fan over the years in Newbury when Bill owned horses and sometimes drove the sulkies himself. In fact, the sight of the horses out in the back paddock or a newborn foal scampering about grew to be a big part of her love of "the farm."

Bev traveled west several times to visit her son, Larry, when he lived in Colorado and for twelve straight summers flew to Seattle to see Glenn during the years he was there. Both of her sons always showed her a good time by taking her to all the sites from Boulder Canyon and to the Rocky Mountain National Park in CO to the glacier-skirted Mt. Rainier and the rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. She also managed a couple of trips to England and Scotland over the years, as well as several road trips "down south" to Atlanta to visit old friends. There was also the famous pop-up camper road trip "out West" back in '68 with Bev, Bill, Glenn and Larry. The family still occasionally viewed the slide show from that three-week adventure to the Badlands, Yellowstone, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and other sites many years later, sharing fond memories with much laughter.

Bev loved to swim, whether just "up the road" to Hall's Lake in Newbury or to Bank Street Beach on her beloved Cape Cod, where her parents retired in Harwich back in 1966. At Bank Street Beach she would never tire of walks to the jetty, beach-combing for jingle shells and feeling the waves on her feet while looking out towards Monomoy Island. Just don't ask Bill about her ill-conceived plan, after they were first married, to sail out there one day on a sunfish!!

Bev not only loved long trips to most anywhere, but she would also just hop in the car to "go for a ride" and turn down a dirt road on which she'd never driven. She would want to see where it would end up and the wonderful sights that might be encountered along the way, whether they be a patch of forget-me-nots along a brook or an overgrown, stone foundation on the edge of thick woods. A lover of literature and music, she truly sought Robert Frost's "road less-traveled by" and it did make "all the difference" for Bev and all who knew and loved her.

As all the family and most of the Town of Newbury know, Bev was a great cook and baker her whole life. Her poppy-seed cookies and brownies were impossible to resist and her apple pies were unbeatable (especially the crusts). She also loved her dark chocolate and a cold bottle of Long Trail Double-Bag beer while seated at the kitchen table at the farm in Newbury and occasionally looking out the picture window on the field and gentle ridge behind it. She always enjoyed gardening and wildflowers, reading, going out to eat and to the movies, music and dabbling at the piano, the many dogs, cats and guinea pigs the family owned over the years, and long walks "around the track" on the farm's 22 acres. This list would not be complete without mentioning her deep appreciation for word play and puns—something she passed on to both of her sons to the utter consternation of all who encounter them!

We will all miss Bev/Mom more than can be expressed or summarized and will all carry her with us for the rest of our days. We know that she is finally at peace and at one with God who, hopefully, has brushed up on cribbage.

Beverly was pre-deceased by her father, George E. Rogers; her mother, Lillian Ruth Rogers; and her in-laws: William J. Ellithorpe, Sr. and Madlyn C. Ellithorpe.

She is survived by her loving husband of 54 years, William (Bill) J. Ellithorpe, Jr. of Newbury; son Lawrence (Larry) Reed of Fair Haven, VT; son Glenn Reed of Wilder, VT and partner Matt Brennan; granddaughter Brianna Thompson, her husband, Zachary (Zack), and their son, Eli, of West Rutland, VT; granddaughter Devyn Reed of Rutland, VT; sister and brothers-in-law Wayne and Christine Smith of Palmer, MA; nephew Terry Smith, his wife, Ivy and their son, Evan of Ware, MA.

There will be no calling hours, but a celebration of Bev's special life and kind soul will be held in Newbury at a date and time to be determined in the early autumn, as circumstances allow.

Bev's family would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the truly caring, supportive and professional staff at GCNH who took wonderful care of her over the past few years. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Bev's memory to the Grafton County Home Association, c/o Grafton County Nursing Home, 3855 Dartmouth College Highway, North Haverhill, NH 03774.