OBIT: Swampscott's Betty Dean Holmes Remembered

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Betty Dean Holmes, age 95, a Swampscott resident, died on November 6, 2023. She was married for 64 years to Andrew B. Holmes, Jr. who predeceased her in 2010.

Born in Dennisport, Massachusetts on July 15, 1928, the third daughter of the late Louis E. Dean and Esther Moody Dean, and raised in Dennisport and Hyannis, she graduated from Barnstable High School in 1946. After raising her children, she continued her education at Essex Agricultural and Technical School and received her Associate Degree in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management in 1977. She continued her studies, part-time, at Salem State College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1990 and her Master’s degree in 1994.

Holmes worked as the relief Food Service Manager at Abbot House Nursing Home for a number of years. Later she worked several years as assistant to the Suggestion Administrator in the Human Resource Group and in the Professional Recruiting office at GE Riverworks in Lynn. .

Holmes was a Swampscott Town Meeting member for more than twenty years. She belonged to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, the Swampscott Historical Society, the Dennis Historical Society, and the Harwich Historical Society. A devoted genealogist, she researched her family history to document her Mayflower descent and joined the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. A talented knitter and embroiderer, she won blue ribbons at the Topsfield Fair for her crewel embroideries. She enjoyed writing and saw her stories published by Yankee Magazine, the Dennis and Harwich Historical Societies, and the Swampscott Reporter. Friends and family took pleasure in her remarkable talent for collecting and telling stories.

She was well known for her welcoming and generous spirit. She seemed to make friends everywhere she went.

She is survived by two daughters, Marcia Dean of Roslindale and Nancy Ellen Holmes, of New Boston, NH. Her daughter Cynthia Radner of Catonsville, MD predeceased her on March 12, 2023. She leaves grandsons Jonathan Flatley and Jason Flatley, granddaughters Casey Radner and Alayna Radner, and great- granddaughters Mataya Flatley and Agnes Flatley. She was sister of the late Sally Dean Logan of Bellingham, WA, and Priscilla Dean of Ocala, FL. She leaves many nephews, nieces, grand and great-grand nephews and nieces.

Memorial donations may be made to the Swampscott Historical Society, 99 Paradise Rd, Swampscott Ma 01907.