Moultonborough---Elizabeth ”Betty” Mary Brown, nee, Mihok, born September 14, 1915 in Peckville, PA, died December 16, 2010 at Forestview Manor in Meredith, NH, aged 95. Betty is fondly remembered as the proprietor of Blink Bonnie Scottish Shop on Route 25 in Moultonborough, NH where she and her husband, Tom, or Laddie as she called him, lived and worked from 1977 till Tom’s sudden death in 1996. After the loss of Tom, Betty regrouped and continued their work at the shop supplying quality Scottish merchandise, Tartan accessories, Kilt fitting, and seamstress service to her many customers and friends from around the country.
Betty continued to exhibit her wares and participate at the New Hampshire Highland Games in September each year until her final appearance there in 2007 when she received “Honored Guest” recognition for her long service and support of that organization. Betty’s passion was for the children’s events at the games and she took delight in sewing outfits for the highland dancers and supplying the accessories for the young pipers so they would be fitted out just right for their performances.
Betty had a long and colorful life beginning in the era of the Grand Hotels in the Saratoga Springs area of upstate New York where as a young girl she worked as a waitress in the posh Gideon Putnam Hotel and served the rich and famous of the day – her favorite was a certain Mr. B Crosby! She loved horses and shared many stories of rising before the sun to go to the stables at the Saratoga Race Track to help exercise the animals before going to work for the day. Her expertise in that area qualified her to “make book” for her guests in the big hotel!
Betty and Tom married in 1954 while he was working with the US Air Force building early warning stations in Alaska. This brought them to Fairbanks where they enjoyed curling and skiing and Betty gave birth to their only child, Sheila Robin Brown, who died just a few hours old in 1958. Betty was tough though and she would say she “drove the Alaska Highway by herself – twice – before it was paved”! They returned to the lower 48 in 1964 and established the Blink Bonnie Inn, a Scottish Bed & Breakfast and Gift Shop in Saratoga Springs near Betty’s family before moving the business to Concord, New Hampshire then their final location in Moultonborough.
Betty is survived by two nieces and a nephew, Paulette Chaffee of Fullerton, California, Betty Taylor of Ottawa, Canada, Joe Marshall of Fullerton, California and their children, Marshall & Adam Chaffee, Brianna Taylor and Jeff & Grace Marshall.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday April 2, 2011 at 11.00am at the Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N.H. with reception to follow. Burial will be in the family plot at St. Peters Cemetery in Saratoga Springs, NY. Many thanks to the Owner and Staff of Forestview Manor, Meredith, NH, who took such wonderful care of Betty over the past two years.
Funeral arrangements and cremation are entrusted to Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N.H. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.