Betty June Ruth Bedell Cure passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 27, 2025, at her home in Coxsackie, NY at the age of 96, attended by her close family members.

As a Coxsackie resident for most of her life, Betty’s passing is a loss felt acutely by both her loved ones and the community.  She was a beloved mother and grandmother, an accomplished public servant and entrepreneur, and an enthusiastic organizer of many village and town initiatives. She devoted her life to making the world around her a better and more beautiful place in both the personal and professional arenas.

Friends, family, and neighbors knew her as a gifted decorator and gardener, always looking for a reason to welcome them into her beautiful home for a gathering or a brightly themed party. She was also an avid reader and devoted lover of the arts, quick to recommend, lend, or enthusiastically discuss a great novel, and pleased to inspire that same appreciation in others. A true intellectual and seasoned world traveler, she brought knowledge and experience across a wide range of subjects, a frequent source of lively and engaging conversations. She was a woman of great character and integrity with a personality rich in its capacity for compassion, kindness, and generosity.  

Betty was born in Cairo, NY on October 30, 1929, to Charles and June Bedell. She graduated  from  Coxsackie Athens High School in 1945, and married Raymond Leroy Cure on December 17, 1947.  

In August 1948, Betty and Ray welcomed their first son, Wayne, into the world.  He was followed by younger brother Richard in March 1950, and their family was complete.  While still raising her young boys, Betty worked from 1955-63 in accounting for General Electric and began attending the College of St Rose in Albany, NY, graduating with a degree in Business Administration.  

From that point forward, she dedicated her career to the field of public education. Betty became an accountant and district clerk at her hometown school district, Coxsackie-Athens in 1963, before embarking upon a string of teaching and accounting roles in other districts, including South Colonie, Catskill, Lafayette, and Highland, NY.

She returned home to C-A as the school business official in 1981 and remained there until 1991 when she retired from the position.  Never one to rest on her laurels, Betty then co-founded the educational consulting firm Management Advisory Group of NY in1994, applying her expert skills as an administrator and accountant to public school districts throughout New York. She retired from this position in 2002,but continued her work with schools through a smaller consultancy in partnership with the New York State School Boards Association into the 2010’s.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Betty loved a project and a challenge.  In 1979, she and Ray purchased a dilapidated horse barn and small apple orchard on Old Plank Road in Coxsackie and rebuilt the structure into a unique home and property that would become the central gathering point for the family.  The extensive rock and wildflower gardens she constructed there were her pride and joy, and she could be found tending to them daily during spring or summer.  

In 2007, she and Ray sold their barn and relocated to a house near the top of Ely Street in Coxsackie, from which Betty could look out upon the Hudson River to the east and the Catskill Mountains to the west.  Here, she again worked magic in her new gardens as well as inside her home and it became a new hub for family gatherings for the remainder of her life.

In addition to these activities, Betty enjoyed spending time traveling to many locations in North America and Europe, found time to participate in numerous local and community organizations, and valued very close relationships with family and friends. She was past president of Coxsackie Council on the  Arts, organized several early Riverside festivals, participated as a member of the town’s Planning and Zoning Boards, led the project for restoration and rehabilitation of the Village of Coxsackie Cemetery, and was the Village Historian for Coxsackie well into her 90’s. Her final large project is a book detailing the history and character of her hometown titled “It’s Our Town” and co-authored with David Dorpfeld, which is expected to be published in the coming year.

A full accounting of Betty’s contributions and achievements could fill pages, but she will be best remembered for her rare gift of quietly encouraging positive change in the lives of those around her. Calm, gracious, and deeply thoughtful, she had a way of bringing out the best in others and took genuine joy in celebrating their successes. Though she may now be absent, her presence remains in the community she served and in the lives of those who knew her. She will be dearly missed and remembered with love always.

A celebration of life event is planned for Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 5-8 p.m. at Cavalli Hudson Valley - 2551 NY-385, Coxsackie, NY12051.

In lieu of flowers, it was Betty’s wish that donations be made to the Village of Coxsackie Historical Society, of which she was a proud member and lifelong supporter.  Donations may be sent to the Coxsackie Historical Society, care of David Dorpfeld at P.O. Box 32 Coxsackie, NY 12051.

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