Elizabeth Anne McCormack, known lovingly as Beth, Bethling, or Betty, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Monday, July 8, in her beloved Albuquerque, New Mexico, after an eighteen-month struggle with gallbladder cancer. She was 59.
It is difficult to put into words all the things Beth did throughout her almost sixty years of life and all the people she touched. Born on July 27, 1964, to Robert and Anne (McViney) McCormack, and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, Beth had an enviable passion and yearning for experiencing all life had to offer. A lover of the arts from a young age and a lifetime performer, singer, and creator, she participated in the plays and musicals at Brockton High School and played the flute in the Brockton High School band. In 1982, her senior year, she played the lead role of Rosalind in the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival competition play As You Like It, and the lead role of Marian the Librarian in the musical production of The Music Man.
Beth attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she perfected her voice, which was undoubtedly her best and most personal instrument. Post-college, Beth lived in New York City where she was the front person and flautist for the indie rock band Carry Nation. Beth became a music fixture and part of the unique fabric of the local East Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods of the early nineties. She later toured across the country with Carry Nation as the opening act for the Smithereens.
Beth moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1994 and once again quickly integrated to its local music scene and made lifelong friends. Like many artists, she worked as a server at restaurants Café Maspero and the Gumbo Shop. New Orleans is also where she began her lifelong passion for rescuing stray dogs, including her beloved Birdie.
In the early 2000s, she earned an MFA in writing at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. A perpetual learner, she was inspired by a visit to Scotland to pursue an advanced degree in archaeology, specializing in British pre-history at the University of Reading, England. She was spotted digging at Stonehenge later that year. Her book, Prehistoric Sites of Montgomeryshire, was published by Logaston Press in 2006.
Her career in archaeology began at Lone Mountain Archaeological Services in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she worked until her death. Her passion for music continued as she also played in numerous Albuquerque bands. She went on to start a clothing business, Miri Boheme, designing eclectic clothing and wedding dresses, and photographing some of the most beautiful people in Albuquerque.
In 2008, she gave birth to the beautiful Finian (Hempstead), the first McCormack grandchild. Considering motherhood her most treasured role, Beth loved and cherished everything about Finian and beamed with pride as he grew into a young man.
Mourning her loss but celebrating her life are her son, Finian Hempstead, and his father, Stephen of Albuquerque; her parents, Robert and Anne McCormack of Brockton; her sister, Suzanne McCormack, and son, Elijah of Brockton; her sister, Dr. Kara McCormack, currently residing in Ankara, Turkey; many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins; and countless friends, all of whom have a story to tell about Beth, how she inspired them, cared for them, and made them laugh.
Visiting Hours will be held in the Conley Funeral Home, 138 Belmont Street (Rte 123) Brockton, on Thursday, July 25 from 4-7pm. A funeral service will be held in the funeral home on Friday at 10am, followed by burial in Coweeset Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to Finian’s college fund https://gofund.me/16984415