Elizabeth “Betty” Kinnen

Elizabeth W. Kinnen, of Wayne and formerly of Williamsville and Buffalo, NY, passed away on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. She was 100 years old!

Elizabeth was the firstborn of Foyn Arthur and Harriet Elizabeth Wilson (Ellis). She was born in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday, June 14, 1920 and became affectionately known as “Betty”.

Betty grew up in Cleveland and, upon high school graduation, attended Case Western Reserve in Cleveland where she earned her certification in vocal music education.  Her teaching career began soon after in 1942, in Cleveland, OH. While teaching music to children was a great love, Betty also loved to sing herself, and was blessed with a beautiful soprano voice. While a member of her church’s choir, Betty was fortunate to meet F. Eugene Drullard, a gentleman from Buffalo, NY (a baritone) who was stationed at the time in Cleveland as a member of the U.S. Coastguard. Betty and “Gene” soon fell in love and married in 1945. The day after their wedding, Gene, a Chief Petty Officer, was deployed on a troop transport ship serving in the North Atlantic for the next two years. To say that this was not much of a honeymoon would have been an understatement, but alas, the two-year wait was apparently worth it. Upon his return to civilian life, Betty and Gene moved to Gene’s hometown of Buffalo, NY. Soon after they were blessed with the birth of their son David and then a daughter whom they named Martha (Marty). They eventually moved from Buffalo into the suburbs to the Township of Tonawanda.

For the first years of their young lives, Betty focused all of her attention on the care of her two children. When Martha entered first grade, Betty returned to the classroom, initially teaching vocal music at West Seneca Junior High School. She later taught in New York’s Williamsville Central School District at Forest Elementary and Maple West Elementary Schools. At age 55, Betty returned to college, this time to the State University of New York at Fredonia, where she did graduate work in Music Education. She continued in the classroom for another seven years until retiring fully in 1982 at the age of 62. During her teaching career which spanned forty years, Betty was a source of inspiration for many of her students, instilling a love of music that would last a lifetime.

For many years, Betty and Gene were members of the First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo where they both were active participants in the church’s choir. Betty was also active in the church as a member of the session, the pastoral search committee, the bell choir, and the women’s association. After retiring, she also directed the bell choir at Amherst Community Church and directed the summer choir at the Chapel at Point Abino, in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada.

Betty loved vacationing along the Canadian shore of Lake Erie where she was a member of the Buffalo Canoe Club. She looked forward to summers and the chance to get out on the lake to take in the warm sunshine and gentle breezes. She also was a twenty-five-year bowler with the Buffalo Canoe Club’s women’s bowling league in which she participated well into her nineties. Betty enjoyed lively discussions at her church’s book club, frequent walks, Sunday afternoon season tickets to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and travels to destinations such as Italy and Greece as well as an Elderhostel trip to the national parks.

After Betty’s husband Gene passed away in 1982, she found love and companionship once more when she met Robert E. Kinnen at Holloway Bay in Ontario, and then married him in 1985. They especially enjoyed their time and friendships at the Kennels at Holloway Bay. After Robert’s passing in 2012, she remained in Williamsville, NY, where they had lived at Wedgewood and then Asbury Pointe.  In 2016, at age 96, she moved to Wayne, NJ to be closer to her daughter Martha. She became a member of a new church family when she joined the Preakness Reformed Church in Wayne, where she enjoyed a weekly lunch and bible study.  Her last years were spent being lovingly cared for at Sunrise Senior Living in Wayne.

The picture of positivity, Betty was full of beauty, grace and charm. Extremely outgoing, she loved a great party and was always up for a good Manhattan.  Many devoted and beloved friends remained in contact until the end from the places and groups she was a part of throughout her life.

Betty was the beloved wife of her first husband F. Eugene “Gene” Drullard who passed away in 1982, and her second husband Robert E. Kinnen who passed away in 2012. She was the most loving mother of David Wilson Drullard and his fiancee Robin Mills of Richmond, VA, and Martha Drullard Mariniello and her husband William of Wayne, adoring grandmother of Ian and wife Maureen Drullard of Grand Island, NY, Kyle and wife Sarah Drullard of Durham, CT, and Trevor Drullard of Wilburham, MA; cherished great-grandmother of Emma, Lucie, Violet, Nathaniel, and Leo; dear sister of the late Patricia and sister-in-law of the late James McGeechan; dear sister-in-law of the late Edgar T. and the late Mary Drullard; and dear aunt of the late Linda Drullard Watts, the late John Drullard, Leslie McGeechan Garner of Dallas, TX, and Tracy McGeechan Robinson of Vezey, IN.  Also beloved were Betty’s great niece Mary and her husband Rick Wellington of Hamburg, NY; her stepchildren the late Christine Kinnen, Michael and his wife Diane Kinnen of Boulder, CO; and Shannon and Deborah Mariniello, and their daughters Grace and Mary of Hillsdale.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Elizabeth’s name are asked to consider her two home churches:

Preakness Reformed Church

131 Church Lane

Wayne, NJ 07470

First Presbyterian Church

1 Symphony Circle

Buffalo, NY 14201