Elizabeth “Betsy” Steel Sims 61 of Yarmouth Port died Wednesday March 16, 2022 at Lahey Hospital in Burlington.

She was the wife of Kenton A. Griffis. They were married in Geneva, Switzerland in 1992.

Born in East Liverpool, OH, Betsy was the daughter of the late Frederick and Ruth (Scott) Sims. She was raised and educated in Cherry Hills NJ, Piscataway NJ, Brewster, NY, and Poughquag NY. Betsy attended Brewster High School from 1975 to 1979 and attended Rice University in Houston, TX, graduating with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1983. She made several life-long friends there.

Betsy joined the Cabot Corp soon after graduating and spent her entire professional career of nearly 40 years there. She started on a new rotational engineer program and became a role model for women engineers to follow. Her first job was at the Cabot office in Akron, Ohio, which was a sales office servicing the tire industry.

After about a year, she transferred to a carbon black manufacturing plant, the former Ohio River Plant in Waverly, WV, where she was a beginning engineer. Around 1985 she transferred to Billerica where she first worked with Carbon Black R&D. She was involved in projects to make carbon black by new methods. She stayed at Billerica, transferring to Special Blacks Technical Service about a year later. She remained with this group until 1994, when she transferred to the Cabot office in Alpharetta, GA. She went on to the Canal Plant, near Franklin, LA, and was part of plant management, from 1996-1998. After this, she was at the fumed silica manufacturing site in Tuscola, IL, until 2004. Her duties were mainly in the area of technical service.

In 2004 she returned to Billerica, where she remained for the rest of her career. She held a number of positions in areas related to technical service, applications development and management. Her long history, depth of experience, and good memory made her well respected in solving manufacturing and customer problems.

Betsy enjoyed working with so many people, both those in the same building and all around the world. She occasionally complained, but solving their problems was the best part.

Betsy and her husband enjoyed bird watching, both around their house and around the world. They spent most of their vacations on bird watching trips. Betsy also enjoyed cooking, exercising, and spending summer vacations with her family.

Prior to moving to Yarmouth Port in 2020, Betsey resided in Bedford, Champaign, IL, Youngsville, LA, and Waltham.

In addition to her husband, Betsy is survived by a brother, Frederick Sims, of Wenatchee, WA.

Funeral services will be private.

As an expression of sympathy, memorial donations may be made to the MSPCA, 1577 Falmouth Rd, Centerville, MA 02632 or to the Autoimmune Hepatitis Association, PO Box 844, Wayzata, MN 55391-0844.

Many of you know that as a colleague and a friend, Betsy and I got along well. When I came to meet Kenton, I was interested to discuss bird watching and bird Photography. As for watching, photography is patience and perseverance; those qualities Betsy was made of. Along the years, once we spoke about poetry and exchanged about our preferences regarding friendship and poetry. We talked about the classics obviously, she was very knowledgeable. My preference went to Longfellow’s “The arrow and the song”. Betsy came with a more modern piece and one that made the point: “the dash poem”, by Linda Ellis. Let’s consider a few lines as a tribute to my friend. The dash Poem (Linda Ellis) "I read of a man who stood to speak At the funeral of a friend He referred to the dates on the tombstone From the beginning...to the end He noted that first came the date of birth And spoke the following date with tears, But he said what mattered most of all Was the dash between those years For that dash represents all the time That they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them Know what that little line is worth …. (not the end)