Betty Meier, “everyone’s Nan,” dies at 98

Grandmother of News 12 anchor remembered for her volunteer work

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Betty Meier, a longtime Seaford resident and Lioness with the Seaford Lions Club, died on April 5 at White Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Woodbury. She was 98.

Meier “was everyone’s Nan,” said her granddaughter, Erin Colton, a New York Emmy-winning reporter for News 12, who lives in Oakdale. From cheering the Wantagh Warriors on to overseeing Homecoming float construction projects, Meier was well known among Colton’s Wantagh High School friends.

“Everyone would say, ‘Is Nan going to be here? Oh am I going to see Nan?’ She was just a big part of my life and a big part of my friend’s lives as well.” Colton said.

Born as Elizabeth Friend on Dec. 27, 1919 in Manhattan, Meier grew up in Rego Park and met future husband Frank Meier while working at a confectionary shop. After Frank served in World War II, the couple moved to Wantagh in 1948 and raised Eileen and Frank Meier.

While her children attended school, Betty held leadership roles in the Seaford Parent-Teacher Association and Seaford Little League and became a Den Mother for Frank’s Cub Scout Troop. Eileen Meier Colton, of Wantagh, said that her mother’s tenacious volunteer spirit overcame her small stature, which was no more than five-feet and 115-pounds.

“She would take any project and run with it,” Eileen said.

The couple was also involved in Seaford’s Lions Club, where they helped run the club’s Sight Program, a donation drive that recycles old eyeglasses for those who cannot afford eye care. Charles Schmitt, a member of the Schmitt Funeral Home’s founding family, remembers the Meiers as old family friends who, as passionate leaders, made him feel comfortable in the club he now spent 50 years in.

“She just had so much energy that it was unbelievable,” Schmitt said of Betty, “She never stopped.”

After living on Maple St. for almost three decades, Betty and Frank were caught in a house fire on Jan. 6, 1977. Spending several months in a local burn unit with less than a 50 percent chance to live, both Betty and Frank survived the blaze and rebuilt their home.

“I remember her always telling us, ‘Thank God they weren’t home; thank God Eileen wasn’t there,” Erin said about Betty’s recollection of that night. “She didn’t even care that she had all the burns and couldn’t see her husband for so many months.”

Frank died on March 20, 1986 of natural causes, but Betty kept volunteering in Seaford, managing the Friends of the Seaford Library’s bake sale and Bingo nights at Seaford’s Cedar Cove Development. She took Erin along for those events, giving her the first pick of whatever she brought or baked.

Former children’s librarian Cindy Schaaf, who is known as “Miss Cindy” by library regulars, recalls visiting Meier at the development on Saturdays. Those special moments, Schaaf said, allowed her to bond with Meier, the joke-cracking home baker who could sell her wares like a seasoned professional.

“She had a way of getting people over and buying from her,” Schaaf said with a laugh. “She was very insistent… but in a nice and fun way.”

No matter what event she was volunteering for, Erin remembered her Nan’s remarkable attitude for life and how that work was part of it.

“She didn’t act like she was volunteering,” Erin said. “She didn’t act like she was doing someone to help someone. It was a part of her life — all of these things that she did — and that’s what I remember the most.”

Betty Meier is also survived by grandchildren Brian Meier, Corinne Newton and Megan Daniels and six great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the Meier family asks that donations be sent to the Seaford Lions Club/Sight Programs at P.O. Box 1722, Seaford, NY 11783 or4 the Lymphoma Research Foundation at 88 Pine Street, Suite 2400, New York, NY 10005.