The Shadow
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LAWRENCE, Mass. — Helen Elizabeth “Betty” Luke passed away in her sleep on Monday, April 2, 2018, at age 88.
Born on Jan. 3, 1930, Betty was raised at Glencairn in Covington and lived most of her adult life in North Andover, Mass., residing for the last years at The Berkeley in Lawrence, Mass.
Betty attended the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., during the war years, and loved it. Following her graduation from the University of Richmond, she assisted her friend Rosie, a government physician, in providing medical services to the poor on the Mississippi Delta.
She had a brief career as a stock broker, one of the first women to enter the profession. She came to the Boston area in 1961 to attend Simmons School of Social Work where she made lifelong friends, including Judith Radtke, and in work placements after graduate school, Judy Nadeau (the Thome Clinic) and Ellen Kenney (St. Ann’s Home in Methuen). She worked for many years as a psychiatric social worker, focusing her decades-long private practice in Andover, Mass., on children and their parents.
Betty was the proud godmother to Kate Guedj, Jill Nadeau and Jennie Moore. She travelled extensively – first with her mother, Helen Luke, and then with friends to China, France, Italy and Barbados with her beloved sister, Mary Jane, and friend, Olivia Brame, and many other venues.
Her favorite place in the world was her house in Dennis on the Cape. There she entertained, played golf and tennis, and enjoyed visitors from near and far.
Betty was incredibly generous to many causes including her beloved Cathedral School and most especially with her family and friends in a deep and life-changing way. She allowed great things to happen.
Her father, William Allan Luke, Jr., her mother, Helen Davis Luke, and sister, Dr. Mary Jane Luke, all predeceased her. She leaves a wide and loving circle of friends and cousins including Emily Whitlock Moore of Fincastle, William A. Whitlock of Steeles Tavern, Jack Witt of Virginia Beach and Isabella Witt of Richmond, all of whom will miss her laughter, love of song and favorite saying “Let the good times roll!”
A memorial service was held on April, 28, 2018 in the Chapel at The Berkeley in Lawrence, Mass.
