Elizabeth “Betsy” Profeta

Funeral services for Elizabeth “Betsy” Nelick Profeta, 61, North Port, Florida will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, KS.  Private interment will be at the Stony Point Cemetery in southern, Douglas County. She died on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

She was born on November 24, 1948 in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of Franklyn C. & Elizabeth Mount Nelick. She had formerly lived in Lawrence and was currently visiting here.

Ms. Profeta was a 1966 graduate of Lawrence High School and was the class valedictorian.  She received a B.A. in English in 1970 from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.  She later received her M.A. from the State College of New York in Buffalo. During her undergraduate years, she spent a semester at Oxford University in England.

She began her career as a volunteer with VISTA in Liberia and with Peace Corps in Afghanistan.  Later she worked overseas for several companies, teaching English as a second language in Africa, Iran, Italy and Saudi Arabia. She brought this rich cultural background to her subsequent service as an educator at several regional institutions of higher education and for the State of Kansas. She recently taught English at Manatee College in Florida.

She was married to John Profeta and he survives of Florida.

Other survivors include a son, Jamie Profeta, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, two brothers; Tim Nelick, of Memphis, TN and Jamie (wife, Lisa) of rural Douglas County, KS.

The family will greet friends at the church following her services.

The family suggests memorials in her name to the Lawrence Humane Society and may be sent in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary.