Elizabeth "Beth" Ann Van Houten
February 22, 1945 ~ June 21, 2022
Resided in:
Washington DC, District of Columbia
Washington, D.C. - Elizabeth Ann Van Houten passed away on the evening of June 21st 2022 at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She died of injuries sustained in a single-vehicle automobile accident that occurred that morning. She was 77.
Beth was the daughter of the late Marian and Raymond Van Houten. She is survived by her brothers, Robert, of Winchester, Massachusetts, and William, of Severna Park, Maryland. Robert was with her when she died, as were the children of her late first cousin, John Paul and Naomi Kordak, both of Portland, Maine.
Beth was a graduate of what was at the time the Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia. She majored in French, and spent her junior year in Paris, where she lived with the family of Jacques Chirac, who later would become prime minister and president of France, as well as Mayor of Paris.
Beth had a career in corporate communications but left the corporate world to pursue her career as a painter. At that time, she began a decades-long summer residency on Monhegan Island, where her aunt had built a cottage in the 1960s, and where Beth had purchased a cottage in 1989.
Beth had in recent years lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and in Chestertown and Baltimore, Maryland. Beth was currently a resident of Washington, D.C. She maintained studios in Washington as well as on Monhegan.
Beth was a lover and supporter of the arts. In Washington she was a longtime supporter of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. On Monhegan she volunteered at the Monhegan Museum, curating a show devoted to Rockwell Kent’s work on the island – the opening show in the re-constructed house of the assistant lighthouse keeper. For many years she was a member of Women Artists of Monhegan Island.
Beth loved the culture of France. She made many trips to paint the landscapes of southern France and visited Paris on many occasions to enjoy the art and music of that city.
Beth loved opera, and for many years had season tickets at the Kennedy Center.
In addition to being a passionate lover of the arts and music, she loved animals. Her beloved cat, Cally, died in the crash.
In addition to her brothers Robert and William, and her cousins John Paul and Naomi, Beth is survived by her first cousin, Nancy Buergelt and her husband Claus Buergelt of Gainesville, Florida; her first cousin Glenn Hovemann and his wife Muffy Weaver, of North San Juan, California, their children Anisa, Oren, Sarita, and Naveen, and grandchildren; and her first cousin, Dianne Light of Grass Valley, California.
Beth was loved by her family and friends and will be very much missed.
Friends may wish to make a memorial contribution to one of Beth’s favored charitable organizations. These included The Nature Conservancy, Attn: Treasury, 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203; Doctors Without Borders USA, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030; and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), 424 E. 92nd Street, New York, NY 10128-6804
Arrangements are under the direction of the Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home of Portland.
View current weather.
Memories Timeline
Photo Gallery
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
We met Beth a few years ago on Monhegan and continued seeing her in DC and emailing and calling. I am an artist and she shared her collection w me. What a bright and beautiful soul. She shared her cottage on the island w us and we loved her sooooo much. I am devastated. We were going to meet up on august 20 on Monhegan! And her glasses were amazing. A true artist. I am so upset. Was looking forward to spending time together. When she first showed us her cottage it felt like we had walked into our home. We have very similar eclectic taste. What a hard worker she was. We emailed back and forth about our art and Joan Mitchell! I made some photographs of her last year when we were on monhegan. I’ll find them to share with the group. We will visit her cottage and leave a memento to keep her spirit warm. Anything the family needs please reach out. 9175416326
Beth and my wife, Shirley Robinson, were best friends for over 30 years. When Shirley passed in 2020 I surprisingly inherited the relationship. We FaceTimed every few months, always intense, always illuminating, always amusing. Nobody went from 0 to outrage faster than Beth, who could just as quickly forget why she was so angry. This was sad news.
David and I valued her friendship and looked forward to seeing her on the island. I will miss her.
My sincerest condolences to her family.
Worked for her in corporate life until she discovered her calling and left for happier times (for her anyway!).
Funny, creative, always thinking, enthusiastic about all the arts.
Beth’s tragic death is a great loss to the Monhegan community. She will be missed tremendously. I’m so glad to learn that Naomi and JP were with her at the end. I believe she loved them dearly.
Truly devastated to learn of Beth’s untimely passing. Beth was new to my life but the connection was instantaneous. We were kindred spirits, sharing a love of art and discourse, Monhegan and France, gin and tonic (more so just gin).
In April we spent hours over martinis at Off the Record in DC. It was Beth’s suggestion and spot on. Whenever I am back in the Capital I will return to the bar to have a cocktail in Beth’s honor.
Monhegan will not be the same without Beth racing around on her cart, organizing the book sale at the library or helping a stranger, which is how we met. So many conversations still to be had. Time with Beth was time well spent. She will be missed.
She had compassion, was educated, involved in the communities where she resided, well-informed and voted. She was a kind soul.
She had at least one friend who misses her, The skills and accomplishments will stand on their own.
When I accompanied her to Monhegan, she had initially asked me because of Cally.
Beth was rather frail and had had numerous orthopedic surgeries. She was afraid that at one or both of the hotels en route to Monhegan, Cally would hide somewhere in the room that required furniture to be move to retrieve her. Indeed it happened: Cally hid under the platform of a king-size mattress. I had to dis-assemble the huge bed and retrieve her. Cally was not happy.
Opinionated, verbose, a fact searcher; contributor to her neighborhood community at the Whitman and prior, a mystery, animal, arts, and humanity lover; explorer beyond what I know; best of all, my friend. She is one I will miss forever.
As an immediate concern, she was such a cat lover and so worried that this summer on the Island, Cally would have to be indoors as there is now a mean, bengal cat that is allowed to roam freely, on others’ property and he had gone after her when she was in her own garden.
When I spent a few, precious days with her on Monhegan, time stopped. After the sun set, she lit the piped, propane lights around the great room. It was a flash back to the time the cottage was new. this was the only time she revealed any of her life story. I will hold these memories dear as long as I have any memories at all. She was a complicated one!
In 2009, we moved into the condo building in DC where she was already well settled.
She was a resident who was tireless in efforts to keep the building in good shape, whether volunteering on the finance committee or attending the monthly board meeting.
When covid struck, she was part of a small bubble that kept me sane. We would go to the roof or our balcony for a weekly cocktail no matter the weather.
Dear Robert , William and Family,
I am profoundly sad that we have lost Beth. She was smart, creative, personable, talented in the kitchen, loved and supported culture, and a wonderful friend. I will treasure my visit to Monhegan when we made the trip from DC together in 2018. It was easy to see why she loved the Island.
I will miss her so very much.
Marguerite
In 1989, our family sold the home on Horns Hill that had been in our family for 70 years to Beth. In the years since, whenever I visited Monhegan, I would stop by and she would always graciously invite me in, give me a tour and we’d sit and chat for awhile. The fact that she loved that house as much as we had, and that the few upgrades she made to it were respectful to it’s history warmed my heart.
Last September, I took my wife to Monhegan for the first time, and once again, Beth received us with open arms and gave us a wonderful hour in the summer house in which I spent my childhood. She even allowed us to take a composite photo of all three of us from the sleeping loft in the house, with the proviso that she didn’t have to face the camera because she was camera-shy. The resulting photo will be a treasured memory for us for as long as we live because it will remind of of her kind and gentle spirit. We left with the hopes of doing it again on our next visit. The news of her passing came as a tremendous shock that my wife and I are still processing. May her memory be a blessing.
I was so saddened to hear of this. I had just seen Beth, maybe right before she left town. She was walking and running errands as usual, and we chatted for about 10 minutes. I will miss seeing her. She was such a good neighbor for a long time at the Whitman.