We called her, “Mom.” It was bright, beautiful, abundant, and brave. This wonderful daughter, sister, wife, devoted mother of four, grandmother of eighteen, great-grandmother of one, and devoted… Followers of Jesus Christ He is now with our Lord and Savior. She embodied Solomon's description of a “noble wife” in Proverbs 31:10-31.
Known as “Betsy” to her family and friends, she was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, to James Roy Stewart and Frances Lessen Durnin and grew up on their beloved family farm with her two older sisters, Sally Hunt Stewart and Tait Stewart (Livengood). They all died before her.
Betsy graduated from Somerset County High School in 1963, attended Longwood College in Virginia and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1967. She accepted a job at the Hecht Company in Maryland, where she soon became a retail sales manager.
One of her sales employees, Kathy Finneran, arranged a blind date for Betsy with her cousin, a naval officer. Oliver L. North Who was completing his final year at the US Naval Academy. He got her hand and she helped Betsy attach the 2nd Lieutenant's bars to the newly commissioned midshipman's shoulders on June 6, 1968. They were married on November 13, 1968 at the U.S. Naval Memorial Church in Quantico, Virginia.
Elizabeth Stewart North, wife of retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, has died. (North family)
A planned month-long cross-country honeymoon trip across America was cut short by emergency orders to report as quickly as possible Deployment in Vietnam. Her response: “If we drive en masse, nonstop, we can make it to California on time.” They did.
When Betsy gave birth at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Bethesda, to Elizabeth Tate, the firstborn of four children, she mailed a photo to her husband, wounded in Vietnam, showing another wounded American soldier holding their day-old daughter. “Our daughter is beautiful. I pray you live to hold her. Love you, Betsy,” Betsy wrote on the back of the photo.
Over the next thirteen years, Stuart, Sarah, and Dornin gave birth, all in naval hospitals. As a “military immigrant family,” Betsy packed and unpacked our household belongings and dried our tears at leaving friends as we moved eight times, in and out of military housing and four homes she found, arranged mortgages to buy, and sold, always for a profit.
At each “job center” I found a “church to worship together,” the best educational opportunity for each of us from home school to public, Christian and private schools throughout our childhoods. She tutored us in everything from mathematics to ethics and coached us through university applications.
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Reading, PA – November 12: Oliver North speaks during the program. During the “Honoring Those Who Serve” Luncheon for Berks County Veterans at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Reading, Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon, November 12, 2021 where Lt. Col. Oliver North was the guest speaker. (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
An accomplished equestrian, Betsy has inspired her girls to succeed aboard increasingly challenging horses from colts to horses competing in international events. Somehow, I made time to watch and cheer on Stuart in baseball, baseball, wrestling, lacrosse, football, and soccer. She loved introducing Stuart as her “favorite son.”
Betsy knew the rules of every sport we were involved in, and could accurately protest what she considered a “bad decision” by a judge, umpire or referee. When the outcome of an event, match or match was less than we had hoped, she would inspire us by saying, “Today was a learning experience, so you can do better next time.”
In 1981, Dadd was appointed to serve on the staff of President Ronald Reagan's National Security Council. For more than five years, none of us, including Betsy, knew much about what Dad was doing, although he seemed to be away more than he was home. That all changed in November 1986. Suddenly, our home in Great Falls, Virginia, was surrounded 24/7 by dozens of reporters and cameras.
From 1986 to 1991, Betsy was a rock of stability and affection for our family during the congressional hearings and the longest and most expensive “special counsel” trial in US history. All the while, her constant warning to us all was: “Stop reading the Washington Compost headlines!” Read your Bible instead, it'll all end well!” Eventually, it did.
In February 1987, the F.B.I A terrorist cell affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement He was secretly preparing an attack on our house. To protect us, the Naval Intelligence Service secretly transferred us to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina—making Betsy the first military wife and mother since the Civil War to be forced to flee her home because of her husband's service.
We moved to Narnia Farm in Clark County, Virginia, in 1990, the same year my father founded the Freedom Alliance. Betsy loved being surrounded by cattle and horses and hosting family and friends from all over the world in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, above the Shenandoah River. Our three daughters celebrated our wedding here. When Betsy's sister, Sally, retired from lifelong teaching, my mother designed, financed, and built a beautiful log cabin for her on the western slope of the mountain.
On New Year's Day 2021, Betsy fell and broke her hip at Care Paravel, the beautiful South Carolina beach house she designed, financed and built. In April 2021, Dad took her to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where she was diagnosed with a rare and fatal degenerative disease: corticobasal syndrome.
Her comment at the time: “God has helped us adapt and overcome every adversity. Pray that we can overcome this one too!”
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This was not the case. By the end of 2022, Betsy's condition had deteriorated to the point that Dr. Alexis McCabe, chief medical officer at Virginia Emergency Center and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve commander, Lt. Col., F-18 pilot, told Dad we should call the nursing home. .
Dad protested, “We don't need a nursing home! We take good care of her at home!” Dr. McCabe's calm response: “Betsy may not need her yet, but you need a nursing home now!” He finally relented and she made the call.
Blue Ridge Hospice arrived at Narnia Farm on January 9, 2023. It was a godsend. For nearly two years, Dr. Brendan Flynn, DO, and his amazing team, especially Laura J., Lucy, Laura F., Lauren, Maria, Lee, and others, have provided essential medical equipment, oxygen, hundreds of prescriptions, and guided us through every aspect possible. Caring for a dying loved one. Debra, Shannon, Tammy, Jennifer and Princess, our five private, kind, loving, experienced and certified caregivers are simply indispensable.
Betsy left us on November 16, 2024, just three days after Mom and Dad's 56th anniversary. She is now in the loving arms of our Lord and Savior, as we celebrate her extraordinary life. However, we will all miss doing with her what she loved to do with us and so many of you.
There will be an Anglican funeral service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, Virginia at 11:00 a.m. on December 21, 2024, officiated by her pastor, the Rev. Jonathan Keel, Rector of Our Savior Church, Oatlands. Our family will welcome friends and family to the parish hall after the service. Betsy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.
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Arrangements: Funeral Hall www.hallfh.com 540-338-5561.
In lieu of flowers, please make a gift in Betsy's name to any or all of the following people:
Blue Ridge Hospice (www.brhospice.org/donate/)
Freedom Alliance (www.freedomalliance.org);
Church of Our Savior, Oatlands (www.contact@oursaviouroatlands.org)
Editor's Note: Elizabeth Stewart North's obituary has been republished from Hall Funeral Home with permission of the North family.
