Elizabeth Cady Stanton Blake was raised in early 1900s New England. She enjoyed a comfortable childhood in New York until her father's death in 1906, at which time the family relocated to New Hampshire for a short while, finally settling in Jamaica Plain in Massachusetts where Elizabeth, better known as Betty, finished her schooling. After finishing high school Betty dreamed of college, but due to poor health enrolled instead at the Knox School, a finishing school in New York. It was there that she discovered her passion for the arts. She continued on to study with the Art Students' League and several private tutors, finally settling down in a small cabin back in Silver Beach.

In the spring of 1925 Betty Stanton chanced to meet one William Harold Blake, when a high school English teacher who had taught them both (ten years apart) invited the pair to see her off on a trip to England. The couple found they had much in common with their family histories though they were rather opposite in temperament. None the less, Betty and Billy Blake were married on March 26, 1927. Once married, Betty felt obligated to forgo directing portrait classes and her professional portrait painting, but Billy's position as Head of the English Department for the Horace Mann School for Boys gave her ample opportunities to be involved in organizations at Columbia University, as well as in their surrounding community. Betty was a member of many organizations including the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, the National Association of Women Artists, the Columbia University Women's Faculty Club, and the Columbia Committee for Community Service.

In 1929 Betty became pregnant with the couple's only child Elizabeth Stanton Blake, better known as Bettina. Through the Depression era Betty and Billy continued to be very active on campus while raising Bettina. At Columbia, Betty was dedicated to the Women's Faculty Club, war relief efforts, art on campus, the Columbia University Committee for Community Service, and with many other campus groups and activities. In the broader community she helped with outreach to less fortunate children by her active participation with the Mannhattanville Community Centers which gave these children a safe place outside of school, and enriched their studies. Even after Billy's retirement in 1952 and his death in 1965 Betty remained very involved on campus and in the community until the mid-1970s when her age made volunteering too difficult. Elizabeth Blake died in 1981.