Louise Elizabeth “Betty” Forsman passed away December 31, 2021, at the age of 96.

Betty was a Navy veteran, educator, librarian, wife, mother, grandmother, world traveler, and avid reader. She is survived by her daughters, Sarah Forsman (Dan Bulos) and Katie Militello (Michael), three grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, a sister, Geraldine Emmitt, and a brother, Michael Griffin (Maria Gutierrez). She was pre-deceased by her husband, John Malcolm Forsman, (Univ. of Texas at Austin teacher and retired USAF, Lt Col), brother Terry Griffin, and stepdaughter Sigrid Rohde.

 

Betty was the oldest of four children born to Louise Zemer Griffin and Marcus K. Griffin, a New York newspaper reporter and later an owner of several New Mexico newspapers. The family lived in New York City and New Milford, CT, before moving to Carlsbad, NM in 1941.

 

Betty graduated in 1943 from high school at Loretto Academy in Santa Fe, NM. Upon graduating, she started college at the University of New Mexico (UNM), taking time off to work for the family’s newspapers in Carlsbad, Tucumcari, and Los Alamos, NM.  She graduated from UNM in 1948. After college, she taught high school in Torrance, CA. In 1952, Betty applied and was accepted for WAVE training in the U.S. Navy Officer Training program in Newport, RI.  As an ensign she worked as a communications officer for the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon. Soon after she arrived in DC, she married John Malcolm Forsman, an Air Force officer. In 1954, just as she and her husband were about to be deployed to Europe, Betty discovered she was pregnant. Per the standard military protocol of the time, a medical discharge was required. She gave birth to her two children in Germany. 

 

Subsequently, Betty became a classroom teacher in elementary, junior, and senior high schools in the various locations where her husband was posted, including San Antonio, TX, the Azores Island of Terceira, and Orlando, FL. Amidst teaching and taking care of her family, she commuted weekly to University of South FL, receiving in 1968 a Master’s degree in library science, with an emphasis on what was then state-of-the-art audio-visual technology. Because of this background, she was an early adopter of computer technology both in her personal life as well as in libraries. Her Master’s thesis was titled “We Dream – Community-School Library”. 

  

Betty became a librarian in three school libraries over a period of 15 years in Austin, Texas. The culmination of her career as a librarian was fulfilling the dream of her Master’s thesis by setting up Lake Travis Community Library in 1984, a library that served both the community and a high school. 

 

Betty travelled with her husband after his retirement. They went to England, Portugal, Spain, Colombia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Macao. After her husband died, she went on to travel to China, Tibet, Norway, Russia, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Panama Canal. Betty retired to northern CA in 2007 to live closer to her family.

 

For those who wish to donate in her memory, you can support her endowed fund at the University of New Mexico that provides students in need with access to online books and study materials:  https://www.unmfund.org/fund/elizabeth-griffin-forsman