Elizabeth 'Betty' Faye (Garver) Nagy

On Monday, December 3, 2018, Elizabeth “Betty” Garver Nagy, artist and watercolor painter, died at the age of 90 in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina.

Betty was born on January 14, 1928 in Martinsville, Illinois to Evelyn Fasig and Ralph Tibbs Garver. As a child, she lived on military bases with her three siblings and in the Philippines where her father, an Army Officer, was stationed and eventually killed as a prisoner of war in the Bataan Death March, WWII.

After graduating from the Studio School of Advertising Art in Cincinnati, OH., Betty worked as a fashion illustrator at Wolf and Dessauer in Fort Wayne, IN.  She then passionately pursued transparent watercolor painting and studied at the Fort Wayne Art Institute, St. Francis College and the Rangemark Masterclass. Betty was an instructor and on the Board of Trustee’s at the Springfield Art Center in Springfield, OH. She was an organizing founder of the Western Ohio Watercolor Society and held merited memberships with Watercolor West, The Midwest Watercolor Society, the Philadelphia Watercolor Club and the Artist Guild of Chicago. In North Carolina, she was a member of the Transylvania Arts Council.

A prolific painter with work in many private collections, Betty dedicated her life to creating things.  Her steadfast love of nature, the journey of the female spirit and an excitement for color inspired her body of work.  When not painting, Betty fashioned wearable art by knitting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering. Her award-winning work has appeared in 60 museums and galleries nationally.

Having called the mountains home for 23 years, fiercely independent Betty is preceded in death by her first husband William Achleman, second husband Stephen Nagy, sister Patricia Cundiff, and brother Ralph Tibbs Garver, Jr. She is survived by her children, Stephanie Nagy Agren, Patricia Nagy (Marc) Adelman, Shelly Achleman Nagy, and Todd Achleman Nagy; sister, Bonnie McCash; and grandchildren, Erik, Evelyn, and Michael Agren, Gwendolen Adelman, and Iain Schultz. 

The memorial service will be Sunday 1/20/19 at 1 p.m. at Kanuga in Hendersonville.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to NAWA National Association of Women Artists

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