A mother. Teacher. Wife. There was no shortage of hats that Beth Illingsworth wore throughout her life and not enough words to capture the colossal impact she had on everyone she touched.
A yoga instructor. Artist. Prankster. Fashion and nature lover. The list goes on. But after she died on July 15 at the age of 57, Illingsworth was perhaps best known by her friends, family and colleagues as someone always willing to spread kindness.
“She lived this happy, beautiful, fun life, because she felt that beauty all around her and she wanted others to feel that as well,” said Emily Potorski, one of Illingsworth’s daughters. “My mom was filled with joy and laughter, she really loved having silly moments and being present in those moments.”
Illingsworth spent the last eight years as a paraeducator at Hampshire Regional High School. Before Hampshire, she taught at the Tri-County Schools Northeast Center for Youth and Families in Easthampton until it closed in 2018.
Emily Potorski and her sister, Anna Potorski, shared many similar stories of their mother in separate interviews, remembering a fun, gracious and loving mother. Illingsworth also had a son, Ian LaPlante.
“Being a teenager is hard, but my mom did her absolute best to make sure that we were loved and she made sure that we became kind, caring people that lifted people up rather than putting others down,” Anna Potorski said.
Along with her involvement in schools, Illingsworth was well known in the community as a lifelong resident of the area — she was born in Holyoke, grew up in Southampton and lived in Huntington. She also worked at Smith College doing bartending and catering.
Danielle Crescione, one of Illingsworth’s friends whom she met in the early 2000s while working at Tri-County Schools, said Illingsworth had a special way of working with students, always knowing how to handle difficult situations calmly while showing care. Crescione reminisced about trips she and Illingsworth would take to Rhode Island.
“She was just that person that holds everything together and keeps her calm,” Crescione said. “That’s what Beth was and she’ll actually continue to be that even though she’s gone because people will think of her like that.”
One of her co-workers at HRHS, Christy Parent, said Illingsworth was able to establish relationships with students, allowing them to trust her when needed. “That is truly a gift of Beth’s,” she said.
“Beth was by far the most generous, hysterical, loving, crazy person, and I mean crazy in the very best way,” Parent said. “She has literally given me the shirt off her back.”
HRHS Principal Lauren Hotz said that while Illingsworth was a paraeducator working with students with individualized education plans, she had connections with all students.
“She did everything,” Hotz said about Illingsworth. “Beth was kind of like that school mom in a lot of ways. She could be very clear but in this way that kids knew that she loved them and it was similar with her colleagues.”
Everyone mentioned the pranks and jokes that Illingsworth always had up her sleeve.
“She was a silly, practical joker and that’s what people are going to miss,” Crescione said. “She would take these little gnomes and put them all over the place.”
“One day we were at work and were talking and she was acting a little bit stranger, itching her face,” Parent said. “She had one of those little, tiny hands up her sleeve. I was dying laughing.”
Growing up, both Anna and Emily Potorski described their home on 50 acres of land in Huntington as a place where they remember their mother sitting on the deck in all types of weather, always welcoming their friends over.
“She would show up to any party, any event and be the life of the party because she was the most authentic person,” Emily Potorski said.
Whether going to the pond to catch frogs or staying up each night to help her kids with homework and school projects, Illingsworth found a way to make every moment special.
“She had this big fur coat she would wear and I remember her saying you can cut a little piece off for a school project once,” Anna Potorski recalled. “She had this incredible way of making things feel not so serious and it made growing up so fun.”
“She really just found magic everywhere, she would teach us to look for fairies and we would walk out to our stream in the backyard,” Emily Potorski said. “My mom was very connected to energy and the universe and she taught my siblings and I to be the same way.”
Even being the energetic person she was, both of her daughters said she never sought attention and always did things to spread joy for others.
“That same spirit that she had raising us, I carry that now as an adult and it took a long time, but I’ve realized that I get to show up in the world and be who I am because of how my mom raised me,” Anna Potorski said.
“I would want people to just instead of being so sad when they think about her [Illingsworth] to just think that she would want people to be happy,” Crescione said.
