Elizabeth D. Work
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Elizabeth (Betty) Work died Tuesday, October 26, 2021, under the skilled and loving care of the staff at Swaim Health Center, Green Ridge Village, Newville, PA.
Betty was the eldest of four daughters of the Rev. Dr. Ira M. Dinkle and his wife, Elizabeth Somerville Dinkle. During high school she did her bit for the war effort, "spotting planes" with her father; civilian volunteers memorized the shapes of Allied and enemy planes, and took shifts watching the skies for any possible air threat against the Eastern seaboard. Betty graduated from Stewartstown High School (PA) in 1948.
She matriculated in 1949 at Maryville College, TN, as a home economics major. At the end of her sophomore year, she changed her major to math. She graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
She dated Galen R. Work for four years, then they married in 1953, just before Galen entered Lincoln Theological Seminary. They recently celebrated their 68th anniversary.
Betty was active in the church throughout her life, including her role as a "preacher's wife," as a valued member of the choir, and as chairperson of the Self-development of People Committee for the Scioto Valley Presbytery in Ohio. She showed her adventurous side as an adult leader in two Presbyterian wilderness canoe expeditions for teenagers through Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada.
Her jobs over the years showed Betty's varied talents and abilities. While waiting for Galen to graduate from college she worked for the Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden, KY. After their marriage, she worked on the Oriole Missile for Glenn L. Martin aerospace in Baltimore. She taught mathematics at Henry C. Conrad High School, in Wilmington, DE, at J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster, PA, and at Hocking College in Nelsonville, OH. She also taught kindergarten in Marietta, Ohio. She was a superb seamstress, an excellent watercolor artist, an avid gardener, a freelance genealogist, and a very committed wife and mother.
After retirement in 1996, she moved with her husband to Galena, Ohio. Then in 2006 they moved to Green Ridge Village in Newville, PA.
In addition to her husband, Betty is survived by her children Galen, Jr. and wife Jill Work, and Elizabeth (Beth) and husband Randy Martin; four grandchildren, Zia and Quinn Work, and Michelle and Eric Martin; a foster grandson, Brett Mathias; and three sisters, Peggy Judge, Ruth Dove, and Emmy Sherwood.
A graveside service will be held Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 10:30am, at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Newville, Pa.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Green Ridge Village, Newville, PA.