Obituary of Elizabeth Desmond Keil

BELFAST - Elizabeth "Betty" Desmond Keil, 98, died Tuesday, March 29, 2016, at a local hospital, following a brief illness. She was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, August 27, 1917, the fifth child of Thomas H. and Olive Antoinette (Eddy) Desmond. She graduated from Simsbury public schools and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she studied landscape architecture. She married Dana Alton Keil in 1942. They lived in Simsbury, where she was employed as a landscape architect, until her retirement in 1965. They then relocated to Attleboro, Massachusetts, closer to Dana's business, and, in 2000, to Belfast, Maine, to Penobscot Shores retirement community. Betty's lifelong interests included birding, travel, gardening, painting, sculpture, poetry, and genealogy. She and Dana enjoyed annual Windjammer sailing cruises on Penobscot Bay, and for many years, winters in Green Valley, Arizona. Betty was predeceased by her parents, brothers John (Jack), Thomas, Robert, Philip, MacChesney, and James, and sister Sylvia Sheldon; son-in-law William Wakely; and, in 2003, husband Dana. She is survived by her son Dana Eddy Keil and his wife Karen Libby of Berkeley, California, daughter Linda Keil Wakely of Belfast, Maine, and granddaughter Catherine Samantha Keil Wakely of Waltham, Massachusetts, and also many dear nieces, nephews, and cousins. Services will be held at a later date in Simsbury, Connecticut. Memorial donations may be made to favorite charities.