Betty Blair

Mauk

Mauk
Betty Blair

Betty Blair Mauk passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2012 in Kingston of Sylvania Assisted Living at the age of 93. She was a life long resident of Toledo, born on December 15, 1918 to Albert and Josephine (Wright) Blair,Jr. Her mother died in childbirth and her father died five months later. Betty was the youngest of the family. Her eight sisters and brothers were raised by their 3 aunts and an uncle in Toledo's Old West End neighborhood. Betty attended Westover School, a boarding school in Connecticut and earned credits towards a university degree at the Mt. Vernon campus of the George Washington University in Washington D.C.. In 1941, she married William Mauk and they had four children.
Mrs. Mauk is one of Toledo's best known grassroots community activists. The founder of Promenade Park in 1972, she has been a long-standing and vocal foe of riverfront development. Betty first came to public attention in the late 1960's when she established the Toledo chapter of the Alliance Francaise. Each of her projects, Promenade Park, Alliance Francaise, the purchase of the Arawanna (the downtown tour boat), the French Kiosk, and the clean up of Swan Creek to name a few, have brought the city of Toledo closer to its goal of downtown revitalization and prosperity.
Betty was a public personality who genuinely cared about others. She wasn't satisfied with the status quo, thought everything through and never let any obstacle get in her way to reach her goal. She was not a quitter.
Mrs. Mauk traveled many times to France with her husband and children. She loved everything French, even thought of France as her second home. Another favorite vacation destination was Nantucket, traveling there with her children and grandchildren. Additionally, she loved music, nature, gardening, sewing, cooking, knitting and making lavender sachets which she sold at the farmer's market. Betty had a passion for life, was creative and generous in spirit.
Her husband and siblings all preceded her in death. Surviving are her children, Bill (Jo) Mauk of Miami, FL; Catherine (Buzz) Mather of Brooklyn, NY; Becky (Rick) Powell of Toledo and Blair (Karen) Mauk of Ft. Collins, CO; grandchildren, Greg Mauk, Halley (Kevin) Coyne, Sarah Mather, Jessica (Scott) Burgess, Jacob (Michelle) Powell, Andy and Spencer Mauk; great granddaughters, Grace and Kate Burgess and CouCou, her 15 year old cat.
There will be no visitation and interment will be private.
A memorial service will be held Monday, July 23, 2012 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church.
Memorial contributions are suggested to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, 30000 E. River Rd., Perrysburg, OH 43551, The Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe St., Toledo, OH 43620 or Westover School Alumni Assoc. Memorial Fund, 1237 Whittemore Rd., Middlebury, CT 06762.
The family wishes to thank all the Kingston nurses, aides and Interim aides, Hospice of Northwest Ohio and especially her good friend, Evelyn Anderson, for their care and compassion given to Betty.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Foth-Dorfmeyer Mortuary. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.fothdorfmeyer.com.
"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others" Pericles