Elizabeth Ann “Betty” Karow, former art librarian for the Milwaukee Art Museum, died April 14, 2025, at the age of 98. A life-long resident of Wisconsin, Betty is deeply missed and highly treasured by her six children, 17 grandchildren and 40 great grandchildren. She was married for 65 years to her childhood sweetheart, Robert A. Karow, a leather and rubber sales executive, who died in 2016 at the age of 94.
The only child of the late Howard and Elizabeth (Elsie) Ott, Betty grew up in Shorewood. Mr. Ott was president of Wisconsin Memorial Park, Brookfield. After graduating from Holy Angels Academy in Milwaukee, she attended Marquette University majoring in sociology and elementary education and subsequently worked as a school welfare counselor for the Milwaukee Public School system before her marriage. When her son and five daughters were in school, she earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1973. She then joined the Milwaukee Art Museum as its librarian, a position she held for 17 years.
Betty and Bob lived in Whitefish Bay from 1950 until 1986 where she was a devoted member of St. Monica’s Catholic Church and actively involved in her children’s many activities. In 1986, they moved to Three Lakes, Wisconsin and built a home on Medicine Lake. During her time in Three Lakes, Betty served as president of the Three Lakes Women’s Club, was a lector at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church and organized the library for Trees for Tomorrow, a specialty school in Eagle River focused on natural resources. The Karows also had a winter home in Pompano Beach, Florida. For the past 12 years, she lived at Elizabeth Residence in Bayside.
Known for her love of reading, Betty read more than 8,000 books, keeping a record of every book and author she read since she was a young girl. Betty had numerous interests in addition to reading. She was an amateur artist of Northwood scenes and other subjects, made intricate counted cross stitch embroideries for her children and loved to discuss art history and the British monarchy.
Betty is survived by her children Thomas (Teresa) Karow, Janet (David) Hintz, Margaret (Reid) Engstrom, Sally (Peter) Wallace, Kathryn (John) Edlebeck and Judith (Thomas) Boyle; and grandchildren Kevin and William Karow, Andrew and Matthew Hintz, Joseph and Evan Engstrom, Katherine (Engstrom) Price, Steven Wallace, Christine (Wallace) Moore, Bridget (Wallace) Tighe, Daniel Edlebeck, Carolyn (Edlebeck) Guiterrez-Gomez, Ann Marie (Edlebeck) Widder, Margaret (Edlebeck) Balleza, Michael and Mark Boyle, and Erin (Boyle) Sandbrink.
A gathering will be held from 9:30 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at St. Eugene Catholic Church, 7600 N. Port Washington Rd., Fox Point, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. Private entombment will be at Wisconsin Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to the Susan G. Komen organization, www.komen.org, whose goal is to prevent and cure breast cancer.
