Marguerite Louise (Arnold) “Betty” Dupree of Cambridge, Mass., and Squirrel Island, died peacefully at home in Cambridge on May 27, 2014, surrounded by the love of her family and friends from home and abroad. She was 96.

Born in Seattle, Wash., Betty was the daughter of George Wright Arnold and Marguerite Maude (Molherin) Arnold. Her father, a native of Rocky River, Ohio, graduated from Western Reserve and Harvard Law School and served on the Alaska boundary survey before moving to Seattle in 1914 where he was a patent attorney. Betty’s mother, a native of Lakewood, Ohio, graduated from the Kindergarten Training School in Cleveland and helped establish the Girl Scouts in Seattle. Betty’s brother, the late Wright Hamilton Arnold of Bellevue, Wash., promoted economic development for King County and the state of Washington.

Betty attended Seattle’s Garfield High School and the University of Washington, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority and Mortar Board. Upon graduating from Washington in 1940, she started her professional career as a trainer in the personnel department at Frederick and Nelson Department Store in Seattle until she married A. Hunter Dupree of Lubbock, Texas in 1946. They moved to Cambridge where he gained a doctorate in history from Harvard; subsequently he was professor of history at the University of California Berkeley and George L. Littlefield Professor of History, Brown University. After he retired in 1981, they returned to Cambridge.

A lifelong learner, Betty took many extension courses, pursuing her varied interests in art and painting. She was a docent at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and at the Oakland Art Museum, as well as an accomplished artist and calligrapher. For over 20 years she was a member of the Art, Creativity and Meaning Group at Harvard Neighbors.

Betty’s family was always her first priority; she and Hunter were a team. Betty supported Hunter by accompanying him on research trips, by transcribing documents and by creating a succession of new homes across the country. She warmly entertained colleagues and friends, and provided a sounding board and common sense. Wherever they lived, they were active members of the local Congregational church.

After they acquired a house on Squirrel Island in 1971, she enjoyed at least part of the next 42 summers there, including 2013.

She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, who will be deeply missed by her husband of nearly 68 years, A. Hunter Dupree; her two children, Marguerite W. Dupree and Anderson H. “Andy” Dupree, and their spouses Rick Trainor and Jillon Dupree; and four grandchildren: Richard and Meg Trainor and Nicholas and Sarah Dupree.

All are welcome to her funeral on Tuesday, June 10 at 11 a.m. in First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden St., followed by a reception. Burial then follows in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The family requests no flowers, but that people consider a donation in memory of Betty Dupree to one of the following or a charity of your choice: Rogerson House Day Program, 434 Jamaica Way, Boston, MA 02130, Attn: Mary Ellen Susi, or www.rogersonhouse.org/how-you-can-help. (Please specify “Day Program”); The Squirrel Island Library, Squirrel Island, ME 04570; The Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, P.O. Box 38, Columbus, OH 43216-0038, or www.kappa.org/donate (any fund).