Elizabeth Flanagan
Elizabeth (Betty) Campbell Flanagan, 103, of Stamford passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at Brighton Gardens. She was born in Johnstone, Scotland on September 17, 1918, to the late Daniel and Elizabeth McGrath Campbell.
Betty came to America at the age of five to live in Jersey City, NJ. She graduated Dickenson High School attending nights while working full time to help support her family. At Dickenson she met the love of her life. The couple married and had two daughters before moving to Mt Vernon, NY where they had a son. Betty’s husband, Leo, became disabled. She cared for him while raising their three children and going back to work in the Children’s Department of a local library. For decades, she would enthrall children with her storytelling. After her husband Leo passed away, she retired from the library. She became a professional storyteller now, often dressed in costume, regaling young and old alike.
Betty began to travel widely around the country and the world. She was able to return to her native Scotland on several occasions. On one occasion she was joined by a daughter, daughter-in-law, and several granddaughters. She visited Hawaii with her granddaughter, Lisa, who she shared her birthday with. Despite her wide travels, the Jersey Shore remained her happy place, A month before her 100th birthday aided by her grandsons Tom and Brian, Betty took her last dip in the Atlantic.
Throughout her life her two greatest treasures were her family and her faith. Every milestone in her growing family brought her tremendous joy. She said the Rosary at least once a day every day. These few words are inadequate to describe the life of a person who with her faith overcame so many challenges and with her heart filled a family with love.
She is survived by her loving children, Leo Flanagan and his wife Maureen of Seaside Park, NJ, Ritamarie Caiati and her husband Dominick of Somers, NY and Maureen Larkin and her husband Thomas of Carmel, NY, as well as her grandchildren: Lisa Caiati; Dominick and Margaret Caiati; Thomas and Tara Larkin; Brian and Jeanne Larkin; Christina Lee and Justin Brent; Katherine and Andrew Corcoran; Lauren Flanagan; and Danielle and Eddie McCaffrey. To her great grandchildren Mackenzie, Dillon, Sean, Monty, Caera, Meghan, Brian, Kate, and Lizzie she was the beloved “GG”.
Besides her parents, Betty is also predeceased by her husband, Leo F. Flanagan, Sr., her sister, Marie Fowler and her brothers, Daniel, and John Campbell.
Family and friends may call at the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford on Sunday, October 31, 2021, from 1:00-5:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, November 1, 2021, at 11 am at St. Bridget of Ireland RC Church, 278 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Stamford, CT. Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Elizabeth’s memory to Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc, 2501 South Plum Street, Seattle, Washington 98144-4711
To leave online condolences, please visit www.cognetta.com