Betty Lou Zopf

Betty Lou Zopf of Dummerston died at her home on Wednesday evening. She was born on August 21, 1942 in Goldsboro, NC; the daughter of the William and Beatrice Barfield.

She graduated from Watts School of Nursing in Durham, NC and later received her BSN degree from Mercy College. In 1964, Lou joined the Peace Corps and served 2 years in Afghanistan as a midwife. She first met Tom Zopf, who she later married in 1967, while he was directing her Peace Corps training program in Dummerston, VT.

In 1969 she and her husband, Tom commenced a new life of service overseas beginning in India where their daughter Maude and son, Adam were born. Leaving India in 1975, they lived in the Philippines; in Tunisha, she served as Peace Corps Medical Officer; in Congo, she directed the U.S. Embassy medical service; and Egypt returning to the U.S. in 1983. Lou continued her nursing career while living in New Rochelle, NY and then in Washington, DC, where she was a regional medical officer for the Peace Corps and then manager of a travel medicine clinic before moving to Vermont in 2002.
Lou's "retirement" in her home on the bank of the West River in Dummerston found her as active as ever. In addition to working at the VNA and The Retreat, she could be found: delivering meals-on-wheels, spending winter nights at the overflow shelter, helping with Dummerston's Perennial Swappers, volunteering at the library, serving on the Green Mountain Camp board, chatting with patients at Pine Heights, hosting the annual Cow Party, and just being there when anyone needed help or friendship.

Services will be held at a later date. The KER-WESTERLUND FUNERAL HOME, 57 High St., Brattleboro, VT is assisting the family with arrangements.