Obituary for Elizabeth R. "Betty" Borden (Perry)
Early Childhood Education Advocate
Elizabeth Rhodie “Betty” Borden, an early childhood learning and daycare advocate for thousands of Greater Lowell children over the course of three decades, passed away in her sleep on Monday, February 13th in her Chelmsford home. She was 91.
Betty’s professional career spanned both the private and non-profit sectors, beginning as a teaching assistant for the Central Co-Operative Nursery School in Chelmsford in the late 1960’s. As women’s participation in the American workplace blossomed in the 1970’s, Betty went on to teach and help manage operations for the Wang Daycare Center, which served employees of one of Greater Lowell’s then largest employers, Wang Laboratories. In 1987 Betty left Wang to help establish and direct the Komar Daycare Center for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell. The center served Lowell’s influx of 25,000 Cambodian refugees from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields” regime, as well as non-Cambodian lower-income households. At Komar, Betty not only taught children and managed teachers and, sometimes, parents, but worked closely with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to ensure compliance with Massachusetts laws and regulations.
Born Elizabeth R. Perry in Westport in April of 1931 to Yankee farmer John E. Perry Sr. and Josephine (Sekonda) Perry, Betty began working after school at the age of 11 as a housecleaner. Subsequent jobs included switchboard operator’s assistant, apple harvester and waitress. Defying her father's wish she quit school to work full-time at a mill, Betty went on to become first violin in her high school orchestra and graduate in 1949; she was voted “Most Determined” by her classmates.
While employed by a Firestone plant that produced “Mae West” life vests, Betty went on a double date and met the love of her life. Thomas R. “Tom” Borden Jr. had served as a weather tech sergeant in both the U.S. Army Air Forces and its successor, the U.S. Air Force. They married in 1951 and he subsequently went to work as a civilian meteorologist for Air Force Cambridge Laboratories; he attended MIT night school while working on early ozone research at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. The couple bought their home in Chelmsford in 1960 with a G.I. Bill mortgage.
After Tom died at the age of 47 in 1975, Betty went on to earn her associate’s degree in early childhood education from Middlesex Community College. She also became a world traveler, helicoptering onto an Alaskan glacier and visiting Greece, Spain, the Egyptian pyramids and the South Seas.
Betty loved history, archeology and reading biographies. She greatly enjoyed being a den mother for her Cub Scout sons. She also enjoyed arranging flowers with members of her garden club and “making a joyful noise” with the Chelmsford Central Congregational Church Choir, accompanying the latter on trips to sing in prominent European cathedrals. Betty was always concerned about the needs of the less fortunate, helping support indigenous American children and people in impoverished regions of Haiti and Mexico. She loved going on whale watches and watching the birds and wildlife in her backyard; she was especially fond of butterflies.
Elizabeth R. Borden is survived by two sons, Thomas E. Borden and his wife Carol Kahn of Essex Fells, NJ and Christopher P. Borden of Chelmsford; her three siblings, Marion J. Macomber and John E. Perry Jr. of Westport, and Mary-Ellen Perry of Cambridge; as well as seven nephews and one niece.
A Memorial Service to celebrate Betty’s life will be held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 11:30 am at the Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home, 24 Worthen St., Chelmsford. Interment to follow in Pine Ridge Cemetery, Chelmsford. In lieu of flowers her sons ask donations be made to Habitat for Humanity at habitat.org.
Elizabeth Rhodie “Betty” Borden, an early childhood learning and daycare advocate for thousands of Greater Lowell children over the course of three decades, passed away in her sleep on Monday, February 13th in her Chelmsford home. She was 91.
Betty’s professional career spanned both the private and non-profit sectors, beginning as a teaching assistant for the Central Co-Operative Nursery School in Chelmsford in the late 1960’s. As women’s participation in the American workplace blossomed in the 1970’s, Betty went on to teach and help manage operations for the Wang Daycare Center, which served employees of one of Greater Lowell’s then largest employers, Wang Laboratories. In 1987 Betty left Wang to help establish and direct the Komar Daycare Center for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell. The center served Lowell’s influx of 25,000 Cambodian refugees from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields” regime, as well as non-Cambodian lower-income households. At Komar, Betty not only taught children and managed teachers and, sometimes, parents, but worked closely with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to ensure compliance with Massachusetts laws and regulations.
Born Elizabeth R. Perry in Westport in April of 1931 to Yankee farmer John E. Perry Sr. and Josephine (Sekonda) Perry, Betty began working after school at the age of 11 as a housecleaner. Subsequent jobs included switchboard operator’s assistant, apple harvester and waitress. Defying her father's wish she quit school to work full-time at a mill, Betty went on to become first violin in her high school orchestra and graduate in 1949; she was voted “Most Determined” by her classmates.
While employed by a Firestone plant that produced “Mae West” life vests, Betty went on a double date and met the love of her life. Thomas R. “Tom” Borden Jr. had served as a weather tech sergeant in both the U.S. Army Air Forces and its successor, the U.S. Air Force. They married in 1951 and he subsequently went to work as a civilian meteorologist for Air Force Cambridge Laboratories; he attended MIT night school while working on early ozone research at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. The couple bought their home in Chelmsford in 1960 with a G.I. Bill mortgage.
After Tom died at the age of 47 in 1975, Betty went on to earn her associate’s degree in early childhood education from Middlesex Community College. She also became a world traveler, helicoptering onto an Alaskan glacier and visiting Greece, Spain, the Egyptian pyramids and the South Seas.
Betty loved history, archeology and reading biographies. She greatly enjoyed being a den mother for her Cub Scout sons. She also enjoyed arranging flowers with members of her garden club and “making a joyful noise” with the Chelmsford Central Congregational Church Choir, accompanying the latter on trips to sing in prominent European cathedrals. Betty was always concerned about the needs of the less fortunate, helping support indigenous American children and people in impoverished regions of Haiti and Mexico. She loved going on whale watches and watching the birds and wildlife in her backyard; she was especially fond of butterflies.
Elizabeth R. Borden is survived by two sons, Thomas E. Borden and his wife Carol Kahn of Essex Fells, NJ and Christopher P. Borden of Chelmsford; her three siblings, Marion J. Macomber and John E. Perry Jr. of Westport, and Mary-Ellen Perry of Cambridge; as well as seven nephews and one niece.
A Memorial Service to celebrate Betty’s life will be held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 11:30 am at the Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home, 24 Worthen St., Chelmsford. Interment to follow in Pine Ridge Cemetery, Chelmsford. In lieu of flowers her sons ask donations be made to Habitat for Humanity at habitat.org.