Elizabeth Betsy Rice Kultgen

Betsy Kultgen September 7, 1924 – September 18, 2007 Elizabeth Betsy Rice Kultgen died early Tuesday, September 18, 2007, at home after a lengthy illness. She was 83 years old. Visitation with the family will be held on Thursday, September 20th at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. A memorial service will be held at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey on Friday, September 21 at 10:30 a.m. with Mark Whitmer officiating. A memorial service will also be held next summer in Mt. Washington, Massachusetts, followed by interment of Betsy’s ashes in the Mt. Washington town cemetery. She was born Elizabeth Cope Rice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three sisters, on September 7, 1924 to Eleanor Garrett Rice and Edward L. Rice. Her family and extended family were Quakers with ties reaching back through many generations of Philadelphia Quakers. When she was quite young, her parents divorced and her family grew to include two loving step-parents, Dr. Persia Campbell and Paul Sangree, along with four step-sisters and three new siblings. Betsy grew up among her large family in Philadelphia and New York, spending summers then and throughout her life at her family’s summer home in the Berkshire Mountains in Mt. Washington, Massachusetts. She graduated from Westtown School in Westtown, Pennsylvania and attended Marietta College. Betsy’s first trips to Waco were to visit her sister, Nora, who had married and started a family here after World War II. Later on, she met David Kultgen through mutual friends at a Temple University vs. University of Texas football game in Philadelphia. Since David was attending Harvard Law School and she was working in Hingham, Massachusetts near Boston, they continued to see each other and were later married in Philadelphia in 1950. They settled in Waco, where David began his law practice. Betsy and David have lived in Waco for the past 57 years, raising their children here and becoming beloved grandparents and great-grandparents. Her family recently helped her establish her ancestry from the original Mayflower Pilgrims by helping her join the Society of Mayflower Descendents. Over the years, Betsy opened her heart and home to an almost uncountable number of stray dogs and a few cats. Anyone who knew her understood her inability to leave an abandoned dog unclaimed, and her whole family are now “dog people” because of this quality. Her care of animals and first-hand knowledge of the suffering of abandoned pets led her to help form the Animal Aids Society of Waco and the Texas Humane Information Network, the latter being a group dedicated to lobbying for more stringent state animal welfare laws. Like her welcome for dogs, Betsy was a wonderfully generous person, giving to many people and causes. Two of Betsy’s sisters and one step-sister preceded her in death: Eleanor Nora Rice Darden, Sydney Rice Katznelson, and Joyce Sangree Green. She is survived by her husband of 57 years, David Burks Kultgen; sisters Joan Rice Faulkner, and Suzanne Sangree Tillinghast Bulkeley and husband Ed; brother Edward Ted Rice and wife Liz; step-sisters Katharine Sangree, Margaret Sangree Tuchrello, and Ellen Sangree Mills; children Edward Kultgen and wife Donna, Peter Kultgen and wife Marjorie, and Elizabeth Kultgen Nash and husband Reuel; grandchildren Kassandra Kultgen, Emily Hunter, Katie Kultgen, Marcus Kultgen, Claire Kultgen, Eleanor Nash, Ann Nash, Rebecca Nash, and Alexandria Kultgen; and great-grandchildren Jasmine Kultgen and Persia Staley. She leaves behind many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins. She also loved the longtime friendship of former daughters-in-law Kathleen Horner, Pat Kultgen, and Candace Kultgen, and Malvina Hunter. Her family wishes to thank Betsy’s long-time caregivers and friends, Mark and Jan Whitmer, Paul Daniels, Mary Adams, Jola Cross, Rebecca Cash, and the caregivers from Providence Home Healthcare. The family is grateful, too, for the prayers of the people of Grace Gospel Church that have comforted Betsy. In lieu of flowers, the family invites memorial gifts to the Waco Humane Society, Fuzzy Friends Rescue, the Humane Society of the United States, or Caritas. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Memorial Guestbook” at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey