A Remembrance of Elizabeth Eddy

Elizabeth Tope Eddy was born on February 27, 1910 to Elizabeth and Richard Tope of Ponca City, Oklahoma. She was the only girl in a family of five brothers. She grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, where her father was Superintendent of Schools. Dwight Tope, now her only surviving brother says, “Ours was a wonderful and close knit family. Being the only girl with so many brothers should have been a handicap for her but is wasn’t. She stood her own ground! All referred to her only as “Sis”, and all respected her in every way.” Dwight also recalls that she was like a second mother to him, as he was the youngest child, and that she was very much like their mother.

After high school, her first job was with the Mountain States Telephone Company. Her employer discovered her talents in getting along with people. Elizabeth attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she had a strong capacity for languages, and she also studied English. She received a BA in Education, following in her father’s and brother Don’s footsteps. Her first teaching position was in a remote mountain town called Purdy Mesa, Colorado. During this time she met her future husband (who was also a teacher) and moved to another small town teaching position to be closer to him.

Elizabeth never assumed she should not work because she was a woman. Michael, her son, describes her as a “woman before her time”, a professional woman who always assumed that men and women were equals. It was she who took the initiative to land a position as a technical editor at the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C., where she edited scientific reports and maps. Her boyfriend, Harry Eddy, followed her there to pursue a Master’s Degree in biology from George Washington University and later become the librarian with the Association of American Railroads. In 1938, Elizabeth and Harry were married in Washington, D. C. Their marriage was a close one; they loved being home together.

Brother Dwight says, “I was personally acquainted with the happiness they shared in the married life, as I was privileged to share an apartment with them for one year. It was one of the happiest times of my life, and they were an inspiration to me as to how a married life can be. Their family was competed with the birth of their son, Michael.” Two years later, the family moved to the Maryland suburbs, where they lived in the same house for the rest of Michael’s growing up years. Michael remembers how his parents loved to garden and worked hard to have beautiful gardens around their home. Elizabeth was a voracious reader and wonderful mother, who didn’t over schedule her child’s life. She had a quiet wisdom and a certain strength about her. She encouraged Michael to pick a vocation that he loved and could love for a long time.

The family traveled back to Colorado often by train for family gatherings. After Harry’s retirement, Elizabeth and Harry traveled to Europe. Only a few years after retiring, Harry died. Elizabeth was greatly affected by this for a long time. She decided she needed to sell the house and move closer to her bothers in the West. Her brother Ken Tope lived at Bayview Manor, where he was a close friend of Ken Myers. Her brother Ed also lived in the Seattle area. So, she decided to put her name on the Bayview waiting list and, meanwhile, move to Sun City, Arizona, where her brother Don and his wife, Josephine lived. Elizabeth didn’t enjoy living alone or cooking only for herself and was glad to move to Seattle, when an apartment became available.

Elizabeth had been a quiet, somewhat shy person most of her life, but she seemed to blossom socially at Bayview. She knew everyone’s name and enjoyed socializing with newfound friends. She subscribed to the symphony and loved her view of Seattle. She developed a very close and meaningful friendship with Althea Baker. The two took bus trips together to places like Orcas Island, Vancouver Island and many other “Don & Diane” destinations. Althea remained a wonderful, faithful friend to the end of Elizabeth’s life, visiting her constantly at the Healthcare Center.

Elizabeth had many wonderful qualities: she truly cared about other people and put others first; she had a subtle wit that she kept to the end of her days; she had a strong faith in God (she and Harry were longtime members of Western Presbyterian Church in D. C. and she was active in Bayview’s Chapel Vespers); she was an organized person, who “had her affairs in order” so as not to burden anyone else. Dwight says, “Sis was the most calm, quiet and dignified person I’ve known. In later life, I felt she was a ‘carbon copy’ of our mother.” Elizabeth took care of her mother in the family’s home until she died at 95. But, she declined the invitation to live with her son and his wife, because she did not want to burden anyone else.

Elizabeth celebrated her 90^th birthday last year with a party on the 10^th floor overlooking the Seattle view that she prized. A lover of vanilla ice cream (her comfort food, even in the Healthcare Center) she asked for seconds on that occasion.

Elizabeth Eddy passed into eternal life on December 31, 2001. She leaves with so many of us, who knew her as family or friend or as one we took care of her, the wonderful memory of a truly endearing and warm person, a woman of dignity, humor and quiet caring.

1/4/02, Rev. Jan Anderson, Bayview Manor