Elizabeth Haggerty Tucker

Elizabeth Haggerty Tucker, EdD, 84, of Williams Lake, Rosendale, NY and Nantucket, MA died on Monday, April 7, 2008 at the Teresian House.
Born on December 17, 1923 in Kingston, NY, she was the daughter of the late Joseph A. and Frances Caffery Haggerty. Her husband, Francis X. Tucker, a Kingston attorney and former Ulster County Surrogate, whom she married on April 26, 1947, died on September 5, 1987.
Affectionately known to her family and friends as Betty, she grew up in Kingston and High Falls and graduated from New Paltz High School in 1941.She began her college education after raising her family. She graduated from Ulster County Community College in 1970 and received a Bachelor Degree from Pace University in 1977. She also received a Masters and Doctorate in Education from Columbia University. Active in various education and professional organizations, Dr. Tucker was member of the National League of Nursing, American Nurses Association and the New York State Nurses Association, PEO International and Sigma Theta Tau, a National Nursing Honor Society.
During her career, Betty was a Nurse at Kingston Hospital and the Staff Development Coordinator at Ferncliff Nursing Home in Rhinebeck. She also taught nursing at Mt. St. Marys College, SUNY-New Paltz and SUNY-Regents College. For more than ten years she was an Assistant Professor of Nursing Education at Columbia Universitys Teachers College, where she also served as Coordinator of the Leadership Development Center and as a member of the Presidents Council.
Betty was also a long time member of the Junior League of Kingston and was a member of the Little Garden Club. Over the years, she served on the Board of Directors of Benedictine Hospital, the Childrens Home of Kingston, Mid-Hudson Heart Association, Ulster County Chapter-American Cancer Society and Ulster County Hospice. She was a parishioner of St. Josephs Church, Kingston and was invested as a Dame in the American Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York City in 2000. Both with her husband Frank, and following his death, she traveled extensively throughout the world and spent the summer months at her home on Nantucket.
Betty was appointed to the Board of the Senate House Historic Site in 1971 by then Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. She was also an Alumni Commencement Speaker at Ulster Community Colleges 1993 Graduation Exercises and was inducted into Ulsters Alumni Hall of Fame in 1998.
She is survived by two sons, Kevin Francis Tucker and his wife, Renee, of St. Paul, MN, and Francis Michael Tucker and his wife, Lynette, of Delmar, NY. She is also survived by four granddaughters, Megan Elizabeth of New York City, Eileen Frances of Pittsburgh, PA, Kathleen Bernadette Tucker of Delmar and Kaitlyn Frances Tucker of St. Paul. Several cousins also survive. She was also predeceased by her sister, Marjorie and her brother, Joseph, both of whom died, along with her father, when she was a childEntrusted to the care of the Keyser Funeral Service, Inc., 326 Albany Ave. Kingston N.Y., where the procession will form on Friday, April 11th at 10:00 A.M. and proceed to St. Joseph's Church, 242 Wall Street, Kingston, NY where a Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 11:00 A.M. Burial immediately following in St. Mary's Cemetery. Friends may call on Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M
The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Benedictine Hospital 105 Mary's Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401.