Elizabeth Spiller Lewis Kamm, age 87, passed away peacefully at home on January 28, 2023.
Beth grew up in Carbondale,IL, one of six children. Beth was innately kind, a friend to all, and was named homecoming queen without campaigning. As a teenager, she assisted her father, Dr. John S. Lewis, while he performed surgeries. Her father was one of the founders of a Carbondale hospital and the Southern Illinois University medical school. Beth attended Smith College in Northampton, MA, and graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston,IL. In 1957, Beth married the love of her life, William Kamm, a future radiologist. Together they had a loving family, Steven (Kelli) of Sarasota, FL, Katherine (Martin) of Nashville, TN, and Brian (Holly) of Parker, CO, followed by adoring grandchildren, Martin Jr., Harry, Elizabeth, A.J., Jack, Arabella, and Sophia.
Beth taught elementary and pre-school, cherishing her students while sharing her infectious love of learning. She was a life-long active church member, Sunday School teacher, and Stephen’s Minister. She enjoyed tennis, was an avid reader, a passionate book collector, and Anglophile. She studied the French language, traveled Europe extensively with her mother and sisters, her husband, family, and friends, making new life-long friendships along the way.
Truly altruistic, Beth volunteered in the purest sense, rendering aid to both her friends and her community. Once, when she learned of a crippled child from Belize in need of reconstructive surgery, Beth volunteered to foster her, Efra, in her home for a year, ensuring the child received the necessary medical care and rehabilitation therapy.
In 2008, Beth received a bi-lateral lung transplant and enjoyed 15 years of life renewed. She and her husband, Bill, shared their time between homes in Belleville, IL and The Villages, FL, until residing solely in FL in 2015.
Beth was a loving, gracious, kind, gentle, and inherently good woman. She loved creating and maintaining her beautiful gardens, playing with her grandchildren, and quietly doing good works. She was incredibly generous, not only with her family, but with churches, schools, hospitals, and those less fortunate.
Beth was born September 5, 1935, to Dr. John S. Lewis and Elizabeth Lewis. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Sally Williams and Winston Lewis, and by her brother, John S. Lewis, Jr. Beth is survived by Bill, her loving husband of 65 years, by two adoring sisters, Kate Wharton of Concord, MA, and Mary Kountze of Boca Grande, FL, and Omaha, NE, and by her grateful children and grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to First United Presbyterian Church, 1303 Royal Heights Rd. Belleville, IL 62223.
