English Teacher and Poet
November 25, 1935—March 10, 2025
Betty Bonham Lies, 89, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, poet and teacher extraordinaire, died on March 10 after a short illness.
A long-time Montgomery Township/Princeton resident, her great passion was teaching. She taught English at Stuart Country Day School for more than two decades, and was Head of the English department for many years. She was known for her love of Shakespeare and the famed “Macbeth Project,” along with guiding student groups to Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Betty will be remembered for her laughter, warm smile, wry wit, and a love of world travel that included Easter Island, Ireland, Japan, and more.
She enjoyed good food, was deadly at Scrabble, had a passion for reading, and possessed an ability to provide an appropriate Shakespearean quotation to fit any daily situation. She once remarked upon a bowl of burnt potatoes: “What are these, so withered and so wild in their attire, that look not like inhabitants o’ th’ earth and yet are on’t?” ("Banquo," Hamlet).
She had a keen sense of social justice and fairness, working with the League of Women Voters and taking part in several mission trips in Appalachia.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Betty attended Carleton College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a BA and Master’s in English Literature. She spent one of her undergraduate years at The University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and during vacations, bicycled around Europe. This was fodder for stories like riding down out of the Alps with no brakes, or drinking champagne from the bottle because it was the “cheapest wine available” in the Champagne region. These adventures, the start of a life spent traveling the globe, sparked wanderlust in her children.
On her first day of graduate school, she met the love of her life, Thomas Lies. They married in 1959 and moved to a house they built in Skillman (Princeton address) in 1961. Their daughter Elaine was born the day they moved into that home, followed a year and a half later by their son Brian. Betty remained there for 60 years, tending vegetable and rose garden, and with her husband, a backyard vineyard.
After retiring, she became a talented poet, taking part in the Cool Women poetry collective as well as many poetry festivals. Her poems appeared in chapbooks and numerous magazines, with at least one nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a Poet in the Schools in New Jersey and taught adults at the Evergreen Forum in Princeton.
Many of her students became close friends. In addition, she was named a NJ Distinguished Teaching Artist in 2000 and 2003, received a Governor’s Award in Arts Education, and received several fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
She is survived by her children, Elaine and Keiichi (Ozawa) of Japan; Brian and Laurel (Keith) of Duxbury, MA; her granddaughter Madeline, of Brookline, MA; her sister and brother-in-law Mary Jo and Henry Boots of Redwood Falls, MN, nieces and nephews, and friends. She was predeceased by her husband.
A celebration of her life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice in her memory.
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