Elizabeth Hackland Walsh, June 11, 1941 — March 11, 2019

Elizabeth’s Obituary Elizabeth Hackland Walsh died on March 11th in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Betsy was born in New Jersey in 1941, the middle child of Norman and Alice Hackland. She grew up with her two brothers with whom she was educated in a two-room schoolhouse in New Suffolk, NY on the eastern end of Long Island.

Her lifelong love of animals began when she smuggled a kitten into church under her coat as a teenager. From a young age, Betsy embraced a sense of adventure and curiosity about the world. Upon graduating from the University of Delaware in 1964, she set off with a friend for North Africa and Europe.

While in Paris, she met her future husband, Jim, when he introduced himself atop the Eiffel Tower. Following a first date at the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo and a whirlwind romance, the couple returned to the U.S. and married in 1966. They spent the early years of their marriage in St. Louis, where daughters Meg and Kit were born.

The family moved to Las Cruces in 1977. In the course of her career, Betsy served as a social worker for the State of New Mexico and at White Sands Missile Range while earning a Master’s Degree in Counseling. She especially loved her pets and her gardens.

Betsy nurtured a menagerie of animals—cats, dogs, birds—that she rescued from the wild and that loved her every bit as much as she loved them. Her plants and orchards bloom as an oasis in the stark beauty of the Chihuahuan desert. She suffered the losses of Jim in 2002, and Kit in 2017.

She is survived by her loving daughter Meg Walsh of Arlington, Va. (Scott Wallace) and brothers Norman Hackland (Dorothy Shriver) of Easton, Md. , John Hackland (Marlene Bloom) of High Springs, Fla.

, and many other beloved relatives. Memorial services will be held at 10:30am on Saturday, March 30th at La Paz – Graham’s Funeral Home, 555 West Amador, Las Cruces. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Betsy’s name to the Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary in Las Cruces (shaspets.com).

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