Elizabeth Richards was a unique individual. She was a free spirit in her art, poetry, and love of travel. She was deeply involved in Quakerism and a faithful believer in the Holy Spirit. She was a woman of deep convictions. She was fun and a favorite of her 10 nieces and nephews.
Elizabeth was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Edward Carrington Mayo Richards and Elizabeth Veech Coan. She had two older brothers, William and Frederick Richards, and one younger sister, Annette Richards Parent. She never married which left her free to pursue her many interests.
She grew up in several places, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Germany, and Tennessee. Her father was a forester and moved a few times for work. Her mother was a homemaker. Bill and Fred became doctors and Annette was a writer and painter. Elizabeth was adept at sculpture and pottery. Her sculptures were mainly of abstract persons or busts. She worked in clay, cast bronze, plaster of Paris, wire, aluminum, mesh and wood. Her pottery was thrown, rolled and cut, some very useful and some whimsical. All are unique to her, particularly the sculpture. She attended Antioch College as an undergraduate and Penn State for her Masters in Art. She was a lifelong student of art, for itself and of its history.
Elizabeth also was an avid reader of poetry and a writer of poems as well. She attended poetry readings as often as she could. She was also a student of psychology and self-awareness. Much of her poetry reflected her interest. She practiced yoga and meditation, as well as journaling her thoughts.
She taught school, including autistic children. She was busy with many activities and jobs throughout her life. She spent many years looking after her parents until they passed in Tucson. This became an all-consuming job as they got older. She was patient and loving to them always.
Travel figured largely in her life from childhood and beyond. Living in Germany and Switzerland for around a year as a child of 7 or 8 was instrumental in her speaking and understanding German. This served her well over the years. She and her sister would speak in German to not be understood at times. In her 30s and 40s, she travelled around Europe and the Middle East, some with her brother Fred and some alone. The travels around Europe were partly done on a motorcycle with a side-car. In Spain, they were in a crash with a sports car that went through a red light. This is where she first injured her knee which haunted her for the rest of her life and later required knee replacement surgery. She travelled in the Middle East alone and used her wits to survive some dicey situations.
She loved to travel with Annette to Europe and they did this several times. They also went on a tour to Russia in their 70s. Elizabeth took Annette’s daughter Anne at 17 to Europe for 6 weeks of budget and absolutely wonderful travel. Anne will always cherish that trip. Anne, her husband Tim, and her brother Laurence escorted Elizabeth to Vienna, Prague, and Hallstat, Austria. It was a memorable trip and her last one to Europe. There were also trips to the East Coast and Canada to see family and friends, mostly with Annette. She travelled several times to Mexico, even living in Mexico City with her sister for a year or so. She often went to New Mexico.
Elizabeth was a member of a meeting affiliated with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and attended Tucson’s Pima Monthly Meeting (PMM) for close to 50 years. She was raised by her Quaker parents to be a pacifist, which led her to demonstrate against war and the draft, beginning during World War II. She was vehemently against guns and violence as she supported peace and justice in the world. She assisted other Friends in helping refugees from Central America to a safer place through PMM’s involvement in the 1980’s Sanctuary Movement. As can be imagined, this was risky work that engaged her faith in favor of allowing the victims of wars safe travel to the US. Her last performance as a Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Raging Granny was at the Tucson Recruitment Center in 2005.
She organized and taught adult education classes each First Day before Meeting for Worship. Through her persistent efforts, she was instrumental in starting and continuing Friendly Eights gatherings occurring in Friends homes twice a year. As she participated in these and other meeting activities, she demonstrated her impressive breadth of knowledge on Quakerism. She let her life speak through thoughtful compassionate listening. In Tucson, a regular group of Jehovah Witnesses would come by and they would discuss theology and spirituality. Although the Jehovah Witnesses knew they were not making a convert, they would come back to visit her from time to time over the years due to her kind and insightful fellowship with them.
She loved the Meeting and missed PMM when she moved to Tempe in 2008 to join her sister, Annette, at Friendship Village, a retirement home for all levels of life care. Both sisters chose to live in Tempe to be near Annette’s daughter, Anne. Elizabeth went to Tempe Monthly Meeting a few times, but poor mobility limited her attendance. Instead, she participated in monthly worship group sessions with Friends at Friendship Village. She provided fine messages, frequently about peace and also shared stories of her life and family. Elizabeth and her sister were both well-loved at Friendship Village, and both passed while living there.
She was the last of her generation of Richards to pass away and with her went decades of memories and history. Hopefully, these memories and history will be passed down from her nieces and nephews to the next generation. She is preceded by her parents, her sister, and her brothers. Her living nieces and nephews are the following: Laurence and Anne (Annette); Gord, Kath and Lee (Bill); Malika, Aurelia, Amanda, Raphael and adopted daughter Stacy (Fred).
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Pima Friends Meeting in Tucson, AZ.