MIDDLETOWN - Elizabeth Denney Lamb, age 72, of Middletown, died on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, at her home. She was born March 28, 1938, in Ancon, Panama, the daughter of the late Dr. Oswald Evans and Bertha Harris Denney. She was reared in Texas and Smyrna. After graduating from John Bassett Moore High School and attending the John Hopkins School of Nursing, she married James Wesley Ryan and devoted the next twenty-eight years of her life to their family and farming. They moved to the Middletown area in 1964. Following Mr. Ryan's death in 1986, she was employed by Records/Gebhart Agency in Smyrna for fourteen years. She was married to Thomas H. Lamb from 1989 until his death in 2001. She was also predeceased by her brothers, Robert H. Denney and Philip H. Denney. She is survived by one brother, Oswald E. "Bill" Denney, Dover; and five sons and their wives, James Wesley and Theresa Ryan, Dalzell, S.C., Thomas P. and Charlan Ryan, Smyrna, Robert D. and Pauline Ryan, Wilmington, Donald L. and Christine Ryan, Lenhartsville, Pa., and Ronald D. and Kathleen Ryan, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. There are five granddaughters and one grandson, four great-granddaughters and many nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews whom she dearly loved left to remember her. The passions of Beth's life were her family, faith and friends. Always an active member of the Episcopal Church, in her later years she was especially involved in the lay ministries of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Middletown, serving numerous terms on the vestry, various committees and as Director of the Altar Guild. She was a graduate of the Education Ministry program and Disciples of Christ in Community and was licensed by the Diocese of Delaware as a Lay Reader, Chalice Bearer and Eucharistic Minister. Service of Christian Burial with Holy Eucharist will take place at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, at St. Anne's Church, 15 East Green St., Middletown, followed by a time of fellowship in the Great Hall adjoining the Church. There will be no viewing and internment at Old St. Anne's Church cemetery will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Anne's Church, PO Box 421, Middletown, DE 19709 or to Delaware Hospice, 100 Patriots Way, Milford, DE 19963. Condolence letters may be sent by visiting www.fariesfuneralhome.com.