Elizabeth (Betty) Bardsley, 87, of Andover died August 3 from complications following a stroke on July 4.  Betty was born December 1, 1931, in Schenectady, New York, the daughter of Wilfred and Victoria Skeats. She grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, graduated from the University of Maryland in 1953 and later earned a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Chicago.

She was employed by university extension services as Assistant 4-H Club Agent in Montgomery County Maryland, as Associate Home Demonstration Agent in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and as Home Demonstration Agent in Belknap County, New Hampshire.  Between Maryland and Connecticut she worked for 18 months for the United States Army Special Services as Recreation Program Director at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

In early 1961, Betty came to New Hampshire with a Connecticut ski group and met her future husband Bill, then assistant manager at Mt. Sunapee.  They were married in July 1962 (she made her own wedding dress), and Betty came to Andover.

In Andover, Betty raised three children, volunteered from 1977 to 1983 at AE/MS with a special program for accelerated math students and tutored slow learners in math and English, reestablished the local 4-H Club to about 60 members, and was a Cub Scout den mother.  She served on the Conservation Commission from 1975 to 1995, and was the Solid Waste Committee chair from 1983 to 1985.

Beyond Andover, she was on the board of directors of the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions, and the Central New Hampshire Community Mental Health Services. She was also on the steering committee for the New England Assembly on Water Supply Protection, and the staff development committee for Supervisory Union #46.  The Lakes Region Planning Commission gave her its Kim Ayers Award as conservationist of the year in 1990.

Betty was elected state representative in 1982, serving through 1990 on the Recreation, Resources and Development Committee, representing Andover, and at different times, Salisbury, Hill, Danbury, and Wilmot.  She also spent time as Development Director at New Hampshire Technical Institute in 1986 and 1987.

She is survived by her husband Bill, daughter and son-in-law Jen and Ted Sjostedt of Scituate, Massachusetts, and their children Gunnar and Annika; daughter Christina Guevarra of Andover and her daughter Paige of New York City, son Nils of Denver, Colorado; nephew Russell LaForce and his wife Karen of Redmond, Washington, and their sons Dwayne of Seattle, Washington, and Geoffrey of Wichita, Kansas; and a great-great nephew, Ronnie Schneider, of Phillipsburg, Kansas.

Betty is also survived by two unofficially adopted brothers, who came to her parents’ home in Lansdowne as exchange students from Germany and Kenya respectively. Victor Schutz of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and Fred Ateto of Severn, Maryland.

There was a memorial service at Proctor Academy’s Old Stone Chapel on August 17.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation at bbrfoundation.org or 800-829-8289.