Sorrento, and Needham, Mass.
Elizabeth “Betsy” (Chafee) Conway, 99, of North Hill and Needham, Mass., and Sorrento died peacefully Oct. 10, 2021. Family and friends lost their family matriarch, filling all those around her with love, laughter and music. Woe be to those who would challenge her at golf, tennis, badminton or croquet! Uninformed with divergent political views had to be ready to defend themselves!
Born Sept. 5, 1922, in Barrington, R.I., to parents Henry S. and Dorothy (Gladding) Chafee, she graduated from Mary C. Wheeler School, Dwight School and Radcliffe College. She spent two of her primary school years in Switzerland, where French became her primary language and skiing and hiking her passion. She would move from Providence and Barrington to the suburbs of Boston (Weston, Wellesley and Needham) but her home was always her summer place in Sorrento. Everyone would know when she was in residence when the American flag flew.
Joys in Betsy’s life were her extended family and friends, music, sports, traveling and her country. For much of her life she had two pianos in her living room. She would entice anyone into duets, no matter what skill level. For family and friends, there would always be singing childhood songs. Betsy organized Forty Forte Fingers for two pianos and four ladies in Barrington, joined a group of pianists in her Boston area and played at North Hill, Needham. She also played the organ at The Dover Church and for more than four decades at Church of the Redeemer, Sorrento. All along, she would contribute music to Bagaduce Music Library to include her compositions of two-piano, eight-hand music.
Betsy was an avid golfer known for never getting in trouble on fairways and deadly eye around the greens. Playing until her 90s, her record of wins at Blink Bonnie Golf Links, Sorrento, will probably never be matched.
She was the first female member of the Barrington Republican Town Committee, a member of the League of Women Voters and active in Wellesley Republican politics, where she met husband Frank Conway. Together they would attend many national Republican presidential conventions.
With Frank, friends and later her children, she would travel the world enjoying the sights, cultures and people, but her favorite places always remained Sorrento, the American Southwest and Switzerland.
Predeceased by husband Frank H. Conway, she is survived by four children, Arthur C. Lee (Helen), Sherrill L. Rosoff, William Jed Lee (Ann) and Henry C. Lee (Maureen), nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2021, at The Dover Church, 17 Springdale Ave., Dover, Mass., to be followed by a private interment. Vaccinations and masks are requested in Betsy’s honor. In lieu of flowers, donations in Betsy’s memory may be made to Bagaduce Music, 49 South St., Blue Hill ME 04614, or Sorrento VIA (Blink Bonnie Golf Links), P.O. Box 343, Sorrento, ME 04677.