Bets Brown

WATERVILLE – Bets Brown died on June 18, 2026, after a valiant battle with colon cancer.

Bets was born in Boston, Mass., on Nov. 16, 1948, the daughter of Dr. Robert H. Brown and Virginia Lane Brown. Her father was a frequently transferred Navy surgeon, so Bets grew up in Massachusetts, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland. She earned a B.S. in Biology from Boston University in 1972 and went on to receive M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Marine Science from the University of Delaware.

After completing her Ph.D. in 1982, Bets worked at Battelle Laboratories in Duxbury, Mass., until 1987. She married W. Herbert Wilson, Jr. in 1984. In 1987, she transferred to Battelle’s laboratory in Sequim, Wash. In 1990, when Herb accepted a faculty position at Colby College, the couple moved to Maine and purchased an old farmhouse in South China.

Bets became Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations in Colby College’s Development Office. Her responsibilities included helping faculty secure grant funding and writing proposals for major initiatives, including new facilities and research equipment. She also occasionally taught Marine Biology and The Biology of Women in the Biology Department. She retired in 2010.

Bets was a generous person who gave freely of her time, talents, and resources to causes she believed in. In 1981, she received a Career Development Grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to support her final year of graduate school. She repaid that investment many times over through her own contributions to AAUW and through her tireless service as an officer in local chapters, the Maine State chapter, and the national organization.

A keen gardener, an avid reader and devoted movie enthusiast, Bets was also an expert knitter. Her friends and family cherish the scarves, sweaters, hats, and rugs created by her loving hands. She also donated dozens of hand-knit wool hats to Maine homeless shelters.

Bets was deeply committed to conservation. She served as president of her local Audubon chapter, wrote letters, testified on environmental issues, and generously supported numerous conservation organizations. She and Herb shared a love of birding and enjoyed memorable trips to Arizona, Texas, Michigan, California, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Scotland.

For over 20 years, Bets participated in CollegeGuild, an out-reach program for prisoners. Prisoners read a lesson, answer essay questions on the material and then a volunteer reads the written responses and offers feedback.

Bets lived an active life. She enjoyed walking and was an early enthusiast of pickleball, playing regularly from 2013 until 2024, when Parkinson’s disease forced her to step away from the sport.

Bets had a great sense of humor and loved puns and other wordplay. She enjoyed crossword puzzles, Scrabble, bridge and other card games, and playing the piano.

Everywhere Bets lived, she found kindred spirits, and she treasured friendships from high school, college, work, birding, pickleball and bridge. Bets loved her family deeply and kept in close touch with the northern and southern branches with letters and phone calls. Her nieces and nephews had a special relationship with their “Auntie Boo” and looked forward to visits from her and Uncle Herb on holidays and family occasions.

Bets is survived by her husband of nearly 42 years, Herb Wilson; her sister, Edith Erickson, and her children, Cliff Erickson and wife Debbie, Kirsten Grace and husband Mike, and Allen Erickson and wife Susanne Kluitmans-Erickson; her brother, Robert Brown, and his wife, Elaine Beilin, and their children, Hannah Brown and partner Hugh Auchincloss and Rachel Brown and husband, Sid Issar; as well as eleven grandnieces and grandnephews.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Colby College on July 26, 2026 at 2 p.m. The service will be in the Parker-Reed room of the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center.

In lieu of flowers,

memorial gifts may

be made to:

AAUW

1310 L Street, N.W.

Suite 1000

Washington, DC 20005

to help endow the Sarah Woodin and David Wethey Endowed Career

Development Grant