Beth Little Hamilton was born June 27, 1935 to Margariete Evelyn Ames Tubbs and Harold Pearson Little at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.  That was the hospital of choice because her mother was a nurse and trained there.  The family lived in New Jersey and in 1941 when the war started Mr. Little joined the service as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force.  He spent the next several years stationed in Alaska at Ladd Field in Anchorage.  He served as a pilot to General McCord who was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Alcan Highway.  Mrs. Little and the children moved to Auburn, California in 1942 and lived there until 1943 when they moved back to Westfield Pennsylvania to care for her adopted father who was dying.

In 1944, Colonel Little (by then a full Colonel) became assistant base commander of Berry Field in Nashville, Tennessee where he served until the war was over.  In 1946 the family moved to California and settled in the San Francisco Bay area.  By the time Beth was in the 7^th grade she had attended 15 different schools.  She attended High School in Redwood City and from there enrolled in Pomona College.  Except for one semester at the University of California at Berkeley, she attended and graduated from Pomona.  From 1958 until 1960 she attended Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut on a Rockefeller Fellowship, receiving a Master of Divinity degree.  Beth worked at the Department of Education in Washington, DC early in her career and attended law school at the Santa Clara University School of Law, receiving her J.D. in 1979.  She had a long, distinguished legal career in San Jose, California at a number of firms; including Ruffo, Ferrari, and McNeil; Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro; and Skjerven Morrill; specializing in environmental law.  Highlights of her career include work on Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robbins, 447 U.S. 74 (1980); being admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court with the Innocence Project; and for work for the Santa Cruz Waldorf School.

Beth married Lyle Hamilton in 1986 and they lived in the San Jose area until moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2001.  She was creative and lively, with a wide circle of family and friends.  She enjoyed quilting and sewing, crafting quilts for numerous friends and relatives.  In her later years she distributed food for Meals on Wheels; was active in Heritage League, and very involved in her church, Westminister Presbyterian Church.  She enjoyed yard sales and antiquing, looking forward to the annual Nebraska Junk Jaunt.  She also had a deep interest in genealogy and enjoyed discovering information about her first ancestor in the United States, George T. Little, who arrived in Newbury, Massachusetts in 1640.  She took pride in sharing information from “The Descendants of George T. Little”, published in 1877 with her family.

Beth is survived by her husband Lyle, sister and brother-in-law Linda and Sandy Recchio, brother and sister-in-law David and Linda Little, grandchildren Michael, Dahlia, Illyanna and Gilead and their parents Nanci and James Hamicksburg, numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

Memorial Services will be held at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2110 Sheridan Boulevard, Lincoln with Rev. Dr. Andrew McDonald officiating.  A reception will immediately follow the services.  Condolences may be left at trumpmemorials.com.  Trump Funeral Services, 1600 West “O” Street, Lincoln are handling the arrangements.