WASHBURN – Betty Lou Baulch died peacefully Aug. 10, 2011, surrounded by her family at a Presque Isle hospital. She was born May 3, 1934, in Houlton, daughter of Harry and Betty (Ebbett) Baulch.
Betty graduated from Houlton High School, Class of 1952. She earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Bates College in 1957, in a five-year program that included two years of clinical experience in Boston hospitals. She began her employment at the then Northern Maine Vocational Technical Institute in 1968, teaching and providing clinical supervision to practical nursing students in Houlton. When the Houlton program closed in 1973, she moved to the Presque Isle campus. She additionally earned a Master of Education degree in 1980 from the University of Maine. Betty led the nursing and allied health department at Northern Maine Community College for more than 12 years before her retirement in 1994. It was during her tenure as department chair that the associate degree nursing program was approved as a pilot program. She was presented the Director’s Award partly as a result of her efforts in making the nursing program a reality. While at NMCC, she served on Maine State Board of Nursing for more than 10 years, taking on the role of president three times, and National Council of State Boards of Nursing for eight years. Betty was happiest spending long summers at her camp on Idle Isle in East Grand Lake. Her brother and sister visited with their families each year, staying on the adjacent island, so there were many shared meals, boating adventures, campouts, picnics and evenings of card games. Betty was able to indulge her love of gardening there on the island nurturing great pots of flowers and herbs. She was a splendid cook, famed among family and friends for specialties, including pea and potato soup, baked Alaska, and wondrous pies and preserves. Betty loved to travel and celebrated birthdays with her children at Tanglewood Music Festival and at Fenway Park with the Red Sox. She especially enjoyed cruises. She visited the Caribbean Islands, traveled through the Panama Canal for a stay in Costa Rica and went to Granada for a week at a spa resort. There were two other things that Betty dearly loved – her dogs and music.
Betty is survived by her children, Corris and husband, Ron Pinette, of Patten, and their children, Aaron Smith, Colleen Clark and Kylie Pinette, Walter Clark and his wife, Mary, of Southbridge, Mass., and their children, Tabitha and Bethany, and Michael Clark and his wife, Leslie, of Ooltewah, Tenn., and their children, Arianne and Joshua; her sister, Judy Baulch Long of Hamden, Conn.; several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents; and her brother, Col. Henry Leigh Baulch. Betty’s family wishes to express sincere gratitude to the care professionals of The Aroostook Medical Center, especially her nurses, many of whom were her former students.
A celebration of Betty’s life will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Edmonds Conference Center on the campus of NMCC, Presque Isle, with the Rev. Jessie Drysdale officiating. A reception with refreshments will be held immediately after the service. Interment will be 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at Evergreen Cemetery, Houlton. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Betty Baulch Scholarship Fund at NMCC, awarded each year to a student pursuing a degree in nursing, care of Dunn Funeral Home, 11 Park St., Houlton, ME 04730.