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Elizabeth Blair Speare
Elizabeth “Betty” Blair (Corney) Speare, 89, of Canton, Ohio, and formerly of Anna Maria Island, died June 7.
She was born May 11, 1936, in Cleveland, Ohio, to the late Arthur & Phoebe (Tyler) Corney of Anna Maria Island. Her family relocated to Maplewood, New Jersey, where she grew up and was a devoted alumna of Columbia High School and Duke University. She was a proud member of Mensa.
After graduating from college, she settled in Des Moines, Iowa, then to Overland Park, Kansas, and on to Windsor and Clinton, Connecticut, before finally moving on to her happy place of Anna Maria Island.
She enjoyed collecting sea glass, seashells and assorted treasures on walks on the beach. She had a creative and artistic mind and could always be found reading historical fiction books or the latest New Yorker magazine, doodling in sketchbooks, or sitting at her sewing machine, mending well-loved clothing. She loved baking, especially preparing the famous English muffin bread for the Anna Maria Island Historical Society.
Services will be July 12 at the Gillooly Funeral Home in Norwood, Massachusetts. Friends are invited to wear blue in honor of her favorite color.
Mrs. Speare is survived by her children, Robert Kreps and wife Nancy of Longmont, Colorado, Nancy Ealy and husband Deke of Charlottesville, Virginia; and Carolyn Ball and husband Kevin of Walpole, Massachusetts; grandchildren Robert Kreps and wife Trish, Jennifer Kreps, Tyler and Sean Ealy; and Emily, Casey, and Sarah Ball; brother Dr. Robert T. Corney and wife Libby of Nashville, Tennessee and their children, niece Susan and nephew Bob and wife Shannon.