Elizabeth M. (MacKay) Reid

At sunrise on October 17, 2023, Elizabeth Reid (known to all as Betty) died in her sleep, in her apartment in York, Maine. She was 98. 

Betty was born in Bath, Maine to Charles Walker MacKay and Margaret Torrey MacKay, whose family had lived in that city and been part of its commerce and industry for generations. She lived in Maine, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Jersey before her family settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She graduated from South Side High School in Fort Wayne, and from Oberlin College. 

She began a master’s program in mathematics at Purdue University, where she met and married her professor, Walter Phillip Reid. With him and her growing family, she lived variously in Ohio, California, New Mexico, Michigan, and Maryland. After a divorce, she lived in Connecticut, California, and Bath, Maine before settling in a senior-living apartment in York, Maine. 

Betty completed her Masters degree in Mathematics at the University of Maryland in 1968. She taught mathematics in high schools for decades, and had a special focus on teaching math to girls, especially geometry. 

Most of Betty’s life she spent summers at Popham Beach, Maine, first in a family-owned cottage that had belonged to her parents until the Depression, and then in her own, whose porch is 50 feet from the ocean at high tide. Betty loved the Atlantic ocean and never liked being far from it. She studied piano and music theory. She was an avid photographer. She did so many extraordinary things that it is impossible to list them here, but they included bicycle trekking, body surfing, and baking. In one famous episode, she rode her bicycle 10 miles to an opera at the Kennedy Center, handed her bicycle to the parking valet, adjusted her hair, and went in to enjoy the show.

She is survived by her 6 children: Brian Reid (Victoria) of Carlsbad, CA, Russell Reid (Beth) of Palo Alto CA, Bruce Reid of Holden, ME, Harvey Reid (Joyce Andersen) of York, ME, Glenn Reid (Andrea) of Woodside, CA, and Lucille Reid Glassman (Phil Harter) of Palo Alto, CA. She has 16 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. 

She was predeceased by her parents, her brothers John MacKay and Robert MacKay, her sister Dorcas MacKay Brenner, her beloved mixed-breed terrier Duke, and her ex-husband Walter Reid.

Interment will be private. A Memorial Service is planned for 1PM November 5th at Lucas and Eaton Funeral Home in York Maine (91 Long Sands Rd, York, ME 03909).  A celebration of life will follow the service and will be held at the York Harbor Inn Ballroom (480 York St, York Harbor, ME 03911) See http://reid.org/betty for more information and photographs.

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