Betsy Elliott; helped build greeting card firm; at 95

But the Kristin Elliott greeting card company lives on.

In no way did the young couple hope to compete with Hallmark, American Greetings, or Gibson, the Globe said in 1988. They named their company for their youngest child, Kristin, and because it sounded like Christmas, to suit the cards they turned out with illustrations by local artists.

At the time of Charles Elliott’s death in 2004, the Globe recalled his 1962 comment to Yankee magazine about the greeting card business: “I’ve had the pleasure of having my wife as a partner while putting four children through college. That’s a pretty good measure of success.’’

Mrs. Elliott, an equal partner in the business who instilled in her daughters the notion that women could succeed in business or anything they wished, died Jan. 2 at Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers after suffering a fall and a stroke in November. She was 95.

Mrs. Elliott had lived in her Beverly home with caretakers’ help until her fall, her family said.

Her son, Charles F. of Manchester-by-the Sea, said that the family sold the greeting card business four years ago to an Arizona company that maintains the name.

Kristin Elliott of Morristown, N.J., the namesake, said strangers keep telling her that her “name sounds familiar.’’ She said cards with her name on them are still sold at such places as Lincoln Center in New York and at hospital gift shops.

“The line has [a] distinctive motif, and music was one of them,’’ she said.

“My mother was incredible,’’ she said. “She had a wonderful life. She met the man of her life. They were business partners. We grew up believing women were equal with men and in a family interactive with the arts. Whenever there was a milestone, we could expect a gift of art.’’

“My parents had a romantic relationship,’’ she said. “He gave her roses and perfume. He always opened doors for her.’’

Another daughter, Susan Elliott Russell of Las Altos, Calif., said her mother “tried to instill her love of writing in her children.’’

“Mother had a very strong work ethic and made us feel that if you tried your best, you could be successful,’’ Russell said. “She was happy. She was born into a happy family, very close.’’

For 45 of the years Mrs. Elliott lived in Beverly, Kristin said, “she loved that she lived in a house on the water.’’

“She played tennis into her 70s, still did the Globe crossword puzzle, and played Scrabble,’’ she said of her mother. “She felt happy and loved.’’

She was born Betsy Worden in West Springfield. With a scholarship and money she earned cooking for a sorority, she graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in nutrition in 1936. She was proud to be the first of her family to graduate from college.

It was the Great Depression, and her first job was conducting cooking demonstrations in a General Electric retail store. Years later, her family said, she published her favorite recipes under the Kristin Elliott label.

While at UMass on a blind date, she met Charles Elliott, also a student. They married in 1940 and founded their greeting card company six years later. “Their niche was New England and Christmas scenes on quality stock with red, green, or white envelopes,’’ said their grandson Gordon Russell, city editor of the Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans.

He said his grandmother “supervised artwork and made sales calls to bookstores and department stores throughout New England, while also handling the administrative side of the business.’’

“She and her husband were equal partners in the business, which was very unusual at that time,’’ he said. “As a result, her three daughters never questioned their right to be treated as equals in every way.’’

In the 1940s and ’50s, Mrs. Elliott wrote a food column for the Eastern States Farmers Exchange.

In Beverly, Mrs. Elliott was involved with civic affairs and was “an active voice for good public schools,’’ her grandson said. She was also “a constant knitter, donating sweaters to young people and outfitting her seven great-grandchildren,’’ he said. She also took up painting at a late age.

Mrs. Elliott also made devoted friends and had a coterie of bridge and tennis pals. “Betsy was a big part of Beverly,’’ said one of them, Ruth Rosen of Beverly. “She was a very special lady.’’

“Betsy was brilliant and loved to read,’’ said Alice Ossoff of Beverly. “She was feisty and very smart.’’

Longtime neighbor and friend Pat Ward described her as “the sweetest person’’ whose friendship strengthened with the years.

Mrs. Elliott “was always willing to express her opinion — about anything,’’ her grandson said. “Here, too, her confidence in herself and her willingness to fight for what she believed in made her a role model for her children and her grandchildren. She usually weighed in with a smile.

“This cheerfulness, combined with her strong independent spirit, was universally admired. She considered herself very lucky to have lived such a long, healthy life, to have enjoyed a wonderful marriage, to have watched her children and grandchildren mature into people she enjoyed and admired, and to have lived in a place where she could look out at the ocean every day.’’

In addition to her two daughters, her son, and her grandson, Mrs. Elliott leaves another daughter, Joan Elliott Amerling of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands; five more grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial gathering of the family is planned for May.

Gloria Negri can be reached at negri@globe.com.