Betty Patricia Mailing

Betty Mailing, 94, of Commerce Township, Michigan was born in Streatham (London), England in 1930 and passed away peacefully on December 17th, 2024 with her family by her side.

In 1939 at the start of World War II, Betty and her much-loved older sister Jean were evacuated from Streatham to Sussex in the south of England to live with a volunteer family of strangers for their safety. When the young girls wrote home to report they could read the numbers off the wings of low flying Nazi planes, they were sent back north, just as the London Blitz hit their neighborhood hard.

In 1948 at 18, Betty attended Dartford College of Physical Education. She was the first in her family to attend college and excelled in sports, especially as a gymnast and playing tennis. After college, she played Netball (similar to Basketball) for Surrey County. In later years she followed professional tennis with great interest. She also followed the royal family, particularly Queen Elizabeth, with affection.

Betty married Donald Mailing, who was Jean’s classmate, in 1953. They were devoted to each other, soulmates for 68 years until Don’s death in 2021. Their son Chris was born in 1957 and Ian in 1958. In 1963 Ford Motor Company, Don’s employer, sent him overseas for three months to Detroit Michigan. After the overseas assignment was extended two times, Ford relocated the young Mailing family to Birmingham, Michigan, where their daughter Janet was born in 1966.

Betty and Don were avid bridge players and elegant ballroom dancers and vacationed most summers with the children at lake-front cottages in northern Michigan, often joined by Jean on holiday from England. Betty crewed for Don when he raced sailboats, and in retirement they traveled the world, with Betty meticulously documenting their voyages in photo albums.

Betty’s career spanned several fields, including serving in 1954 as Head of the PE Department at a London high school, where she was most proud of her coaching roles. When Don was on assignment in the U.S. and Betty was alone with two boys under the age of six, she taught nursery school in London. Her last position was resident expert/head of the Computer Lab in Birmingham’s Seaholm High School Library and Media Center when personal computing was in its infancy.

Betty raised her three children with British values and her own high standards, which she imparted with gracious warmth. She delighted in her grandchildren, and more recently their children, too, proud of every achievement and eagerly presiding over boisterous family gatherings even though she was a gentle introvert. Her family cherished her, and she will be deeply missed. Betty Mailing is survived by her sons Chris (Arlene Brimer), Ian (Sue), and daughter Janet Wittenberg (Eric); five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.