Betty Jean Baldwin, 90, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012, at Brighton Gardens Assisted Living in Chevy Chase, Md., after a long illness. Betty, who was known as "Betsy" to most of her friends, was born March 19, 1922, in Effingham, Ill., the daughter of Paul and Ruby (Adams) Taylor.
After graduating from Effingham High School in 1938, she attended Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., where she met her future husband, Donald C. Baldwin. In 1941, Don joined the Aviation Cadet program, receiving his Wings and commission as a 2nd Lt. in Class 42-E at Moore Field, near Mission, Texas. They were married there on May 21, 1942, and were married for 53 years, until Don's death on Oct. 9, 1995.
Betsy was a loyal and energetic Air Force wife, and the family moved many times during Don's military service, living in Texas, Tenn., England, and Plattsburgh Air Force Base. After Don's retirement, the family returned to Plattsburgh, one of their last stations, and lived on Crescent Drive from 1966 to 1997, where their four children grew up. When her children were older, Betsy returned to college at Plattsburgh State and received her bachelor of arts and master of arts in history, while working as a graduate assistant for the late Dr. Allan S. Everest. She directed the Oral History Project at Plattsburgh State for several years before she earned her master of library science degree at Albany State. During the 1970s and 1980s, she worked as a librarian at Our Lady of Victory Secretarial School, the Plattsburgh Public Library, the Plattsburgh Air Force Base Library, and Clinton Community College.
In Plattsburgh, Betsy was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Tuesday Club. Betsy was past-president of the Northern Adirondack Library Association and a member of the N.Y. Library Association and the Oral History Association. She enjoyed genealogy and local history, and supported both the Clinton County Historical Association and the Kent Delord House. She wrote articles for the Antiquarian and was the winner in 1976 of the first McMasters' Prize for local historical writing. In 1997, she authored the Introduction to The Journal of William Gilliland: 18th Century Pioneer of the Champlain Valley, transcribed by the late Fuller Allen and edited by David Kendall Martin, published by the Clinton County Historical Association. She was initiated into Delta Delta Delta sorority at Millikin University in 1940, and gave that organization her love and support throughout her life.
In 1997, Betsy moved to San Antonio. In 1999, she became a resident of Air Force Village II, a military retirement community that she enjoyed immensely. She was a member of the Protestant Chapel Choir, the Dabblers craft club, and Threads of Love, a group that made and donated crocheted and knitted clothing and blankets for premature babies. She loved to travel and in 2002, she made her final trip, accompanying family members to Vancouver and Alaska for a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage and the wedding of her daughter Leslie. In 2009, after ten years of enjoying a rich and active retirement with her beloved Air Force community, she moved to an assisted living facility in Chevy Chase, Md., near her daughter's residence. She cherished visits this past year from all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Betsy is survived by her son, Kim Baldwin and his wife Holly (Hough) of Plattsburgh; two daughters, Leslie Baldwin and husband Ken Eng of Cabin John, Md., and Heidi Hassinger of Plattsburgh; her beloved grandchildren, Chad and Troy Hassinger of Plattsburgh, and Vanessa Rumsey and her husband Don of Branchport, N.Y.; five great-grandchildren, Aubrey and Gretchen Miiller, and Dylan, Dakota, and Taylor Rumsey; and her daughter-in-law, Claudia Baldwin, all of Branchport; her brother, Paul Taylor Jr. of Effingham, Ill.; her sister-in-law, Jessie Harris of Decatur, Ill.; her brother-in-law, Roger Baldwin and his wife Evalyn of Oklahoma City; and several nieces and nephews.
Her son, Jon Baldwin, predeceased her in 2010. Her sister, Shirley Taylor Claar of Effingham, Ill., died on July 26, 2012, just five weeks prior to Betsy's death.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4 Palmer St., Plattsburgh.
Contributions in Betsy's memory may be made to Hospice Caring, Inc., 518 South Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg, MD., 20877, or on-line at www.hospicecaring.org.
The Baldwin family is very grateful for the kind caregivers at Brighton Gardens who became Betsy's second family in the last three years of her life, and the hospice staff and volunteers who gave loving companionship and comfort to Betsy in her final year.

Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, NY)
Date: September 13, 2012