Elizabeth "Betty" (Theriault) Doolittle

Elizabeth (Theriault) Doolittle

April 1, 1937 – March 24, 2021

Cherished friend, mother, and grandmother Elizabeth “Betty” Doolittle died on March 24, 2021 at Middlesex Hospital from complications of COPD. Betty was born in Caribou, Maine, the only child of Frank Theriault and Kathrine Ouellette. Her parents sold their farm and moved to Bristol, Connecticut during World War II, and Betty graduated from Bristol High School in 1955. Betty’s high school friendships were life-long sources of joy, and she regularly recalled all the fun she had as a majorette.

Betty married Burton E. Doolittle in 1958. As a young couple, they moved to Canandaigua, NY, where they raised their three children. They returned to CT in 1976 and settled in Middletown. She earned her first Associate’s Degree in Business in 1989 and her second in Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Counseling in 1995, both from Middlesex Community College. In 2000, she reached a lifetime goal, earning her Bachelor of Science degree from Charter Oak State College. She worked in banking for most of her career. In her later years, she worked as a paraprofessional at Slade School in New Britain, CT.

Betty’s Pine Street home in Middletown, the site of countless birthday parties, Christmas mornings, and Easter Egg hunts, and gatherings with friends was suffused with her warmth, vivacity, and laughter. She had a song for nearly every occasion and a hymn for all the rest. She gave freely of herself and was repaid tenfold with a vibrant social life, from spirited card games to Caribbean cruises. Betty valued all the good life has to offer: friendship, sunshine, ice cream, lobster, Maine blueberries, and the sand between her toes.

And for all her levity, Betty was a dependable source of support and nonjudgmental advice for her family and friends. She always remembered to say, “I love you”, and will be deeply missed.

Betty is survived by her three children Curt Doolittle of Portland, CT, Ellen McBryde and her husband Marcus of St. Paul’s, NC, and Jean Barresi and her husband Bart of Portland, CT, as well as her grandchildren Michael Conklin, Andrew Conklin, Caitlin Doolittle, Emma Barresi, and Christian Doolittle. She was predeceased by her former husband Burton E. Doolittle in 1993.

Her family is grateful for the support of Betty’s friends and relations, whose calls, messages, and stories have been a great source of comfort in her final days.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, March 29th at 10:00 am at the Church of Saint Mary, 45 Freestone Avenue, Portland and will be livestreamed through Doolittle Funeral Home facebook page.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Betty’s memory may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 1000 Department 142, Memphis, TN 38101-9908 or Middlesex Hospice & Palliative Care, 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457.  To share memories or send condolences to the family, please visit www.doolittlefuneralservice.com.

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