Betsy Wakefield

Elizabeth “Betsy” Petersen Wakefield has served on the Erie County Community Foundation board for over 5 years. Wakefield is retired after a stellar career working in the arts, healthcare, law, and municipal government.

Wakefield began her career in the Exhibitions Department at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis, MN. She worked as an Engineering/Biochemistry Librarian for Gilford Instrument Laboratories in Oberlin, OH, and as Director of the Medical Library at St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain, OH. Betsy later worked as an attorney for Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff in Cleveland, OH, and practiced privately in Vermilion before being elected Vermilion Municipal Court Judge in Vermilion, OH.

Wakefield earned her BA from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. She also earned her MSLS from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and her JD from Cleveland State University in Cleveland.

Wakefield also currently serves on the Vermilion Community Services Board. In the past, Wakefield served as board member for the Vermilion Parks and Recreation, Main Street Vermilion, and Historic Vermilion boards. She currently lives in Vermilion with her husband, Theodore D. Wakefield, ll.