Elizabeth (Betty) Dunn Power, formerly of Boston (Beacon Hill) and Lexington, died on November 2 in Brookline, MA, at age 89. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend.

Betty was born on June 8, 1936, to James and Mary Dunn of Norwood, MA. After graduating from Norwood High School, she went on to study at Emmanuel College.

In the late 1950s she was introduced by dear friends to Daniel Power at Symphony Hall in Boston, where both were attending a dress rehearsal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). That fateful day led to their marriage on November 24, 1960, and the happy home where they raised four daughters: Hilary Power of Richmond, CA, Jane Neilson of Wellesley, Rachel Power of Plymouth, and Christine Power Thielman of Arlington.

Raising their family in Lexington, Betty and Dan had a close group of friends who cared deeply about social justice, and Betty volunteered extensively with Rosie's Place and the Pine Street Inn. In an event that lives on in family lore, she joined a 1971 protest in support of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War on the Lexington Green that culminated in her arrest, along with 167 other townspeople, for disorderly conduct. It was, according to the environmentalist Bill McKibben, whose father was part of the same group, "the largest single act of civil disobedience in Massachusetts history" ( The New Yorker , May 2022).

After several years as an at-home mother, Betty turned her love of reading into a career as a copy editor, spending most of her professional life at the publisher Little, Brown. She and Dan moved from Lexington to Beacon Hill in 1985 and became members of the Boston Athenaeum, an independent library founded in 1807, which gave them access to a seemingly endless reading selection, stunning art and architecture, and concerts and events that greatly enhanced their lives in the city.

Classical music brought them together, so it seems fitting that throughout their 65 years of marriage, Betty and Dan, who survives her, enjoyed as much music as they could fit into their schedules. They maintained a subscription to the BSO for many years and regularly attended concerts there with their dearest friends.

In addition to her husband and daughters, Betty is survived by nine grandchildren: Daniel (and his wife, Marisa Borchardt), Samantha, and Grace Neilson; Alexandra, Andrew, and Eric Steinberg; and Aidan, Sophie, and Jack Thielman, as well as devoted sons-in-law David Neilson and Jeff Thielman, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister, Marjory Florko of Cincinnati.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Monday December 1 at St. Brigid Church, 1981 Mass. Ave., Lexington at 10:30am. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. Donations in Betty's memory can be made to the Women's Lunch Place in Boston, www.womenslunchplace.org/donate

Interment private.