In Remembrance

Elizabeth “Betsy” Folwell

Blue Mountain Lake, New York

January 20, 1953 – January 5, 2025

Elizabeth Folwell paddles Blue Mountain Lake. From the 50th Anniversary issue (2019) of Adirondack Life.

We were saddened to hear today that Elizabeth “Betsy” Folwell, journalist, community advocate, and past editor of Adirondack Life, died of cancer this past Sunday at the age of 71.

Betsy and her husband, Tom Warrington, are well-known to our IRMA family. Betsy served as a board member through 2012, and she and her husband were regular attendees at the annual IRMA Conference.

Betsy’s loss will be felt deeply in the communities she was active in, particularly by our friends at Adirondack Life.

In an article published today by North Country Public Radio, Folwell is remembered not only as an accomplished editor and mentor, but as someone deeply devoted to the Adirondacks, to the arts, to the people around and in Adirondack Park, and to the beautiful environment that she wrote about.

Folwell joined Adirondack Life in 1989 as assistant editor, eventually taking over as editor, then creative director and publisher. She transitioned away from the magazine 25 years ago, mentoring her successor Annie Stoltie, now editor-in-chief and co-publisher of Adirondack Life.

In the interview with NCPR, Annie explains, “There’s just so many facets to who [Betsy] was and she cast such a wide net, she knew so many people. It’s tough, but from my perspective, she was Adirondack Life magazine. Her way of teaching me about the Adirondacks was to send me out of the office. She’d say, ‘Go drive around, hike this mountain, meet these people, go to this event, observe, participate, and then write about it.’ In other words, she’d say, ‘Go live this place.’ And that’s what she did and that’s how you get to the heart of this place.”

She was also involved in reviving the Indian Lake Theater, establishing the Adirondack Center for Writing, and served on board of the Adirondack Land Trust.

She was the author of the book Short Carries, the first five editions of The Adirondack Book, and co-author, with Amy Godine, of Adirondack Odysseys. She lived in Blue Mountain Lake since 1976.

She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Tom Warrington, her dogs Hartlyn and Scout, her brother-in-law Gus Kasapis and and her three nieces: Cally Marcuson, Nikki Halle, and Stephanie Zeckelman, all of Arizona.

Donations in Betsy’s memory may be made to the Adirondack Foundation’s Small Wonders Fund for the Central Adirondacks, or to any of the organizations that she supported, including the Adirondack Center for Writing, The Adirondack Land Trust, AARCH, and the Steamboat Tuscarora Preservation Project.

We join Annie Stoltie and the team at Adirondack Life in celebrating and mourning Betsy Folwell. We are deeply sorry for your loss.

NCPR’s full interview:

Betsy Folwell’s 2019 column in the 50th Anniversary issue, Following a Thread.

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Published January 8, 2025