HANOVER, NH — Elizabeth (“Betty”) Horton Breunig died of complications from Covid-19 on February 2, 2021, in Hanover, NH. She was 93.
Betty was born on June 19, 1927 in Biddeford, Maine, where her family was vacationing. She was the youngest child of Douglas Horton and Carol (Williams) Horton. The family moved from Boston to Chicago to New York City while she was growing up. She graduated from the Putney School in 1945, then spent a year at the Ecole Internationale in Geneva, Switzerland. Before graduating from Radcliffe College in 1951, she taught English at a school in Nishinomiya, Japan, and worked at a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
She held various jobs in Washington, DC, and New York City before marrying Charles Breunig in 1955. They immediately moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where Charles had been hired as a history professor at Lawrence University.
Much to their surprise, Betty and Charles ended up staying in Appleton for forty-one years. In addition to raising their three children Betty was an active volunteer for several organizations, most notably The League of Women Voters of Appleton and A Better Chance. Her children learned the importance of civic engagement as they helped her stuff envelopes for candidates in local elections.
When Betty was ten years old her family began to spend part of each summer in Randolph, New Hampshire, where they hiked in the White Mountains and built lifelong friendships. The annual trek (which continued for the rest of her life) gave Betty and her family the unique opportunity to spend summers with her siblings Peggy Grant, Alan Horton and Alice Tibbetts, along with their families. Most evenings would find them drinking cocktails and laughing on the porch looking out at the mountains. Many of their children and grandchildren still make the trip to Randolph every summer.
In 1996 she and Charles moved to the Kendal retirement home in Hanover, New Hampshire, where Betty learned new skills like weaving rugs and operating a PA system. She ran the Kendal library’s book sale for several years.
Betty was predeceased by her husband and her three siblings. She is survived by her three children: Tom Breunig in Berkeley, California; Charlie Breunig (Erica Avery) in Greenfield, Massachusetts; and Martha Breunig (Bly Windstorm) in Port Townsend, Washington. She also leaves behind a brother-in-law, Norris Tibbetts, in Madison, Wisconsin, and four grandchildren: Marlee Breunig, Sophie Obayashi, Toby Obayashi-Breunig, and Hazel Windstorm.
Betty’s family thanks the staff at Kendal (especially those in the Health Center and Memory Care Unit) for taking care of her in her final years.
In accordance with Betty’s wishes, there will be no memorial service. Donations in her memory can be made to the Randolph Foundation: The Randolph Foundation, Treasurer, PO Box 283, Gorham, NH 03581.