8/14/1943 – 8/18/2025
Lawrence
Elizabeth Stout Weaver (Betsy) died peacefully at Bridge Haven Memory Care Home on August 18, 2025. She was born on August 14, 1943, in Flint, Michigan, the daughter of John Samuel and Dorothy Backert Stout. She graduated from Northwestern High School in Kokomo, IN, in 1961 as class valedictorian, and from the College of Wooster, in Wooster, OH, in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She married Robert Franklin Weaver (Rob) in 1965 in Flint, MI. She taught music in elementary and junior high schools in Durham, NC from 1965 to 1968. She had a lovely soprano voice and was a paid soloist in several churches in Durham. She played the ingenue role (Phyllis) in a production of “Iolanthe” by the Savoyards, a Gilbert and Sullivan group, in 1967 in Durham. In 1968 she gave birth to a daughter, Virginia (Ginny) Robin.
In 1969, Betsy and Rob moved to San Francisco, California. There, she taught music to elementary age children at the Hebrew Academy. In 1971, she gave birth to a daughter, Stephanie Elizabeth.
In 1971, Betsy and Rob moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where they lived for the rest of her life. In the mid 1970’s, Betsy studied voice performance at the University of Kansas. In 1982, she joined the docent program at the Spencer Museum of Art at KU, and in 1984 became the director of the program. She served in that capacity until her retirement in 1999, and continued to serve as a docent until 2016. After retirement, she volunteered in her granddaughter Camilla’s kindergarten and first grade classrooms at Cordley Elementary School.
Betsy was known for her bubbly personality, love of music, art, good food, travel, and, above all, family. She was also an excellent cook, and kept the family stocked with homemade French bread made from Julia Child’s recipe. She was a loving mother, wife, daughter, and friend, and many people loved her and will miss her.
Survivors include her husband Rob, of the home; daughters (Ginny [Dan White], Lawrence, KS, and Stephanie [Chad Kemper], Lawrence, KS); granddaughters Camilla and Nora Lynch; two brothers (J. Stephen Stout [Jayna] of Flushing, MI, and David Stout [Eileen] of Clinton, NJ).
A celebration of Betsy’s life is pending. The family suggests memorial gifts to the Alzheimer’s Association. Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com.
Note: The Lawrence Times is offering Lawrence and Douglas County community members space to publish remembrances of loved ones who lived in this community, free of charge. These pieces are submitted by family and friends of the deceased and not written by our staff. Photos are also provided to the publication, and some may have been altered prior to submission. Read more obituaries here.
We are honored to be able to offer this service free to community members in mourning. We believe the last thing our neighbors need in those difficult moments is another financial matter to worry about. Please support the Times to help us continue providing this service — and news access — for all.
To submit an obituary to The Lawrence Times, please fill out the form at this link. We’re sorry, but we cannot accept obituary submissions via email or other means.
Receive obituaries via email
As of May 2026, we are launching a newsletter that will include obituaries only. Obituaries will no longer appear in our daily emails. You can sign up below to receive any and all of our emails. If you already receive our daily, weekly and/or occasional emails and you want to keep receiving them, please check those boxes as well.
Please make sure you click on the button that says “Yes, subscribe me to this list” in the email you receive or you will not receive future emails. That extra step is to protect you and make sure you’re not getting emails you don’t want.
