Elizabeth "Betty" Desmond Keil, 98, died March 29, 2016, at a local hospital, following a brief illness.

She was born in Simsbury, Conn., on Aug. 27, 1917, the fifth child of Thomas H. and Olive Antoinette (Eddy) Desmond. She graduated from Simsbury public schools and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she studied landscape architecture. She married Dana Alton Keil in 1942. They lived in Simsbury, where she was employed as a landscape architect, until her retirement in 1965. They then relocated to Attleboro, Mass., closer to Dana's business, and, in 2000, to Belfast, to Penobscot Shores retirement community.

Betty's lifelong interests included birding, travel, gardening, painting, sculpture, poetry and genealogy. She and Dana enjoyed annual windjammer sailing cruises on Penobscot Bay, and for many years, winters in Green Valley, Ariz.

Betty was predeceased by her parents; her brothers, John “Jack,” Thomas, Robert, Philip, MacChesney and James; her sister, Sylvia Sheldon; her son-in-law, William Wakely; and, in 2003, her husband, Dana.

She is survived by her son, Dana Eddy Keil and his wife, Karen Libby, of Berkeley, Calif.; her daughter, Linda Keil Wakely of Belfast; and her granddaughter, Catherine Samantha Keil Wakely of Waltham, Mass.; and also many dear nieces, nephews and cousins.

Services will be held at a later date in Simsbury, Conn.

Memorial donations may be made to favorite charities.

Arrangements are under the care of Riposta Funeral Home.