Elizabeth ‘Bykota Betty’ Flaherty, piano teacher and Bykota Senior Center volunteer, dies

Elizabeth “Bykota Betty” Flaherty, a longtime volunteer at the Bykota Senior Center in Towson who taught piano for more than 75 years, died Friday of heart failure at her St. Elizabeth Hall home in Timonium. She was 95.

“We worked together at Bykota for 18 years,” said Julie Lynn, who retired in 2022 after serving as director of the Towson senior center for 20 years. “Betty was a very dedicated, determined and positive person. She came to the senior center every day because she had a job, a purpose and liked staying active. She was just a good-hearted, caring and generous individual.”

“For many years, hers was the first face you saw when entering Bykota,” said Laura Riley, director of the Baltimore County Department of Aging. “She was a very devoted volunteer and rarely missed a day of work. She trained and brought in a lot of new volunteers because she had high expectations when it came to customer service.

“And Betty just let Julie think she was running Bykota.”

Elizabeth Magdelena Tunney, daughter of James Tunney, a New York Central Railroad steamfitter, and Caroline Tunney, a Larkin Co. secretary, was born and raised in Lackawanna, New York.

She was a graduate of Mount Mercy Academy in Buffalo, New York.

Mrs. Flaherty, who began studying piano at a young age and was teaching the instrument by the time she was 18, was still instructing a student until a month ago.

In 1952, she married James Flaherty, an Erie County Water Authority supervisor, and settled in West Seneca, New York, where they raised six children.

After her children were grown, Mrs. Flaherty enrolled at Hilbert College in Hamburg, New York, where she earned an associate degree in history.

Her husband died in 1992, and in 2002, she moved to Towson to be closer to two of her daughters, and not long afterward, she discovered Bykota.

It was Mrs. Flaherty who greeted seniors at the front desk with a cheerful demeanor and helped them sign up for everything from pickleball to fitness and wood shop classes.

“I always think of Betty as the Energizer Bunny. It’s a rare volunteer who is all day every day all the year round. She always found a way to get to work,” Ms. Lynn said.

“She really was the face of Bykota and everyone had to register through Betty. We have more than 2,000 members and she was the first person they met,” she said. “She was so welcoming and asked why they came, what they were interested in and helped them navigate Bykota.”

“Betty was friendly but stern and she had high expectations. If you didn’t follow the rule, she’d let you know,” Ms. Riley said, with a laugh. “But she was warm and loyal as could be. Say ‘Betty,’ and all knew who you were talking about.”

Mrs. Flaherty also trained interns and staff.

“She was well into her 90s and was still coordinating all of the volunteers, which was a big job. She worked out in our fitness center and had food restrictions, which she followed,” Ms. Lynn said.

A decade ago, Mrs. Flaherty moved to St. Elizabeth Hall, on the grounds of Stella Maris, a hospice in Timonium.

“We took her car away when she was 89, but she had friends who would pick her up and get her to Bykota five days a week,” said a daughter, Patricia Flaherty-Olmedo, of Cockeysville.

Mrs. Flaherty was still volunteering at Bykota at the time of her death.

She was named Bykota Volunteer of the Year and in 2010 was inducted into the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

An avid gardener, Mrs. Flaherty cared for the gardens at St. Elizabeth Hall and Stella Maris, and in 2017, a garden at the latter was dedicated to her with a statue of the Virgin Mary and a plaque reading, “Our Lady’s Garden is dedicated to Betty Flaherty for her Inspiration, Planning and Planting.”

Plans for a Mass to be offered in the spring of 2024 in the chapel at Stella Maris are incomplete.

In addition to Mrs. Flaherty-Olmedo, Mrs. Flaherty is survived by four other daughters, Mary Igoe, of Bonita Springs, Florida, Eileen Flaherty, of Palm Desert, California, Carolyn Ricinak, of Walnut Creek, California, and Martha Patt, of Martinez, California; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Her son, Brendan Flaherty, died this year.