Elizabeth Guillard, 79, Was Research Assistant

Elizabeth Guillard of Concord, N.H., died June 6 after a valiant battle with cancer. She was 79.

Born Elizabeth Davenport in Brooklyn, N.Y., Betty was raised by her maternal grandparents in New Canaan, Conn., and was graduated from New Canaan High School in 1944.

She worked briefly as a legal secretary and then as an advertising manager at Bride Basket in New York city before accepting a position as a secretary at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in September 1951. She married marine biologist Robert Guillard in 1954 and they moved to Hawaii, where she worked at the University of Hawaii. The Guillards returned to the continental United States in 1955, and in 1958 moved to Cape Cod.

In 1960, Betty began a 26-year career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, becoming a full-time laboratory assistant and subsequently a research assistant.

She left the institution in May 1986 and eventually relocated to Yarmouth, Me.

Upon retirement, Betty fulfilled a lifelong dream and began annual trips to faraway places including Argentina and Africa.

With typical resolve and self-reliance, she sold her beloved house in Yarmouth when her health began to decline and moved to the Havenwood retirement community in Concord, N.H.

She leaves behind many lifelong friends who will never forget her resilience, her candor and her wisdom.