Eulogy for a Celebration of the Life of
Elisabeth Ann Swinson Sharp
1929-2008
August 2, 2008
by Susan Laura Lugo
Good morning.On behalf of the entire and very extensive family of our beloved Elisabeth Ann Swinson
Sharp, thank you for your presence here today, and for the deeply thoughtful and heartfelt
remembrances all of you have shared with the family in the last week since Elisabeth’s passing.
More than you will ever know your words have been an uplifting testimony to the remarkable
woman who was sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, abiding friend, canny
bridge partner, resourceful business associate, generous patron, life adventurer and woman of the world to so many. She touched, molded and nurtured countless lives in her journey through this life.
Permit me if you will to wear two hats today, offering sincere condolences to Elisabeth’s
family and loved ones first in my role as President of the Caribbean Genealogy Library. On
behalf of the members of the Board of Directors, the Honorary Board Members, CGL’s growing
corps of volunteer librarians, and its entire membership, I can assure you that your feelings of
loss are echoed by our own.
Elisabeth was the principal founder and benefactor of the Caribbean Genealogy Library.
She most certainly was the head of our CGL family for the tireless eight plus years she labored to establish and launch this remarkable community and cultural resource for the people of the
Virgin Islands. Her gift was certainly financial but it was also intensely personal. Family history
was a lifelong passion for Elisabeth, an infectious passion she knew could only be fully enjoyed
by being shared with others. A determined advocate for preservation of and public access to vital records, Elisabeth was an active presence at CGL even in her final days. She attended and participated with enthusiasm at Board meetings. She frequently dropped by to assist CGL Cataloger Shirley Lincoln with the translation of German research texts donated from Elisabeth’s sizable personal library collection. As a volunteer librarian, she flashed her engaging smile while offering search strategies and advice to those researchers just beginning their information quest.
Elisabeth was President of CGL for the first five years of its existence, and as past
President she served on the Board during the last three years of her life in the role of Advisor.
From the outset she established and committed her personal resources to a dedicated fund for the library at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands. She was guide, conscience and
inspiration for us all. The Board will sorely miss her in her advisory capacity but also for her
relentless enthusiasm and encouragement.
An untiring supporter and promoter of CGL, she ardently articulated her hopes and
dreams of connecting families with the past and with each other. Elisabeth’s vision never
wavered, and the library and its research opportunities for our community of patrons remain a
testament to that vision and her legacy to all of us. Therefore, and in respectful tribute to Elisabeth and her remarkable achievements, the Board makes the following pledges to all of you but especially to her family and loved ones:
• The Caribbean Genealogy Library will continue and it will continue to expand its
outreach and services to provide broader access to research resources for family
historians and scholars.
outreach and services to provide broader access to research resources for family
historians and scholars.
• In all its actions and policies the Board will honor Elisabeth’s memory by striving
to fulfill the mission, vision and values she was so instrumental in establishing for
CGL.
• The organization will remain accountable to its stakeholders and vigilant to the
needs of its patrons.
• And, in the spirit of its principal founder, CGL will explore new and creative
ways to connect with others through collaborations and partnerships to
successfully carry out these pledges.
That is our promise and the pledges we offer in remembrance of her.
[Not read]In deepest sympathy,
Alton A Adams, Jr.
Aimery P. Caron
Katina E. Coulianos
Pedrito A. François
Thyra Hammond
Myron D. Jackson
Susan Laura Lugo
Jeanne O’Day
Michelle Rogers-Bully
Rob Upson
A moment ago, I asked you to permit me to wear two hats. I have unabashedly borrowed
the second one for this occasion from the pool of consoling memories being shared by
Elisabeth’s family this past week. Let me describe the second hat for you. It is a magnificent
piece at once stylish, full of life, joyous, adventurous, even a bit playful. It is the marvelously
and richly pink hat of an anything-but-ordinary woman who could confidently pair it with a
matching pink suit to attend her daughters’ school event. No doubt it was the startling contrast
of Elisabeth’s bluest of blue eyes in that outfit the night of that event that drew fellow parent Pat
Boone’s exclamatory comment upon being introduced to her, “You are the most attractive
woman in the room!”—a comment that may have made Elisabeth blush at the time, but one her
daughters Susan and Jackie recount could still gave her mother pleasure decades later.
There was no doubt about it: Elisabeth was a beauty—at any age as you can see from the
pictures in her memorial booklet. And what a gift she had in her smile . . . with her smile alone
she could disarm the most intractable obstacle—and don’t think she didn’t know its powers!
Throughout her life she demonstrated her ability to use her smile, her charms, her authoritative
and commanding presence to produce results. Put simply, when Elisabeth had her mind set on a
goal, little stood in her way. I don’t think we can blame Pat Boone for awakening Elisabeth to
her natural talents. I’ve heard a lot of these kinds of stories these past few days, from Elisabeth’s
early marriage at 15, to family adventures in Switzerland, to the purchase of the Newport Beach
beach side house that swelled with friends and family for a full summer and more. I’ve also lived
a few of those “Elisabeth” moments myself and I can tell you, her “negotiating” skill was the
stuff of legends.
My friendship with my pink-hatted friend began in the 1990s. I don’t recall the
circumstances of our very first meeting but I know we were both attending meetings of the
Virgin Islands Genealogical Society in those days. In her late 60’s at the time, I remember being
in awe when Elisabeth told me she was using DataBase III format to input, organize and access
her genealogy research. I was a competent but still aspiring computer geek, but I had yet to
experiment with database programs so I was amazed that Elisabeth had taken on this learning
goal so late in life. We arranged to meet at her condo for a demonstration of her data, and we
only stopped talking and exchanging ideas and experiences about four hours later when twilight
finally settled upon us. It was so wonderful to find someone with whom to share my family
history addiction!
We shared so many things as it turned out. Some years before our meeting, Elisabeth had
founded the Immigrant Genealogy Library in Burbank, CA, which has now become one of the
nation’s most prestigious collections of German-American ancestry research materials. At the
time I had just discovered that my maternal ancestry had a strong German component.
Elisabeth’s own ancestry research was heavily German as well, and she had countless resources
and expertise to offer in assistance.
founded the Immigrant Genealogy Library in Burbank, CA, which has now become one of the
nation’s most prestigious collections of German-American ancestry research materials. At the
time I had just discovered that my maternal ancestry had a strong German component.
Elisabeth’s own ancestry research was heavily German as well, and she had countless resources
and expertise to offer in assistance.
Elisabeth had a home in Los Angeles in the city of North Hollywood. I had lived for a
time in the same city shortly before making the Virgin Islands my home in 1978.
Elisabeth and I shared a reverence for books and information, made manifest by our
frequent acquisitions of outrageous proportions both for our personal use and for the library.
Elisabeth’s passion for solving problems with detective-like skills and analysis was demonstrated
not only in her family history research compilations but in her voracious appetite for crossword
puzzles, bridge, and a lifelong love of learning. Learning anything and everything—my kindred
spirit in that regard, too.
time in the same city shortly before making the Virgin Islands my home in 1978.
Elisabeth and I shared a reverence for books and information, made manifest by our
frequent acquisitions of outrageous proportions both for our personal use and for the library.
Elisabeth’s passion for solving problems with detective-like skills and analysis was demonstrated
not only in her family history research compilations but in her voracious appetite for crossword
puzzles, bridge, and a lifelong love of learning. Learning anything and everything—my kindred
spirit in that regard, too.
“The first thing I noticed was the clarity of the air, and then the sharp green colour of the
land.” That quote is the first sentence of the book “The House on the Strand” by famed novelist
Daphne du Maurier. Earlier this week I was raptly listening to the rapid-fire exchange of
Elisabeth stories by family members when du Maurier’s name came up. Suddenly I remembered my own mother had du Maurier books on her nightstand by her bed and I remember reading them until all hours of the morning when I was in junior high. What Elisabeth’s family recalled was that she constantly exposed them to ideas and literature and competencies through her own reading selections, like du Maurier’s novels, and her own demonstrated love of learning and exploring. And while I listened amazed that her children, her grown and decidedly adult children, could still remember plot details, characters and place names from The House on the Strand, it was only one of a dozen such books recounted in that evening’s remembrances, one of a dozen different points of view inculcated about faith, life lessons and the world at large. And woven throughout the dialogue and the banter was the primacy and constancy of family.
land.” That quote is the first sentence of the book “The House on the Strand” by famed novelist
Daphne du Maurier. Earlier this week I was raptly listening to the rapid-fire exchange of
Elisabeth stories by family members when du Maurier’s name came up. Suddenly I remembered my own mother had du Maurier books on her nightstand by her bed and I remember reading them until all hours of the morning when I was in junior high. What Elisabeth’s family recalled was that she constantly exposed them to ideas and literature and competencies through her own reading selections, like du Maurier’s novels, and her own demonstrated love of learning and exploring. And while I listened amazed that her children, her grown and decidedly adult children, could still remember plot details, characters and place names from The House on the Strand, it was only one of a dozen such books recounted in that evening’s remembrances, one of a dozen different points of view inculcated about faith, life lessons and the world at large. And woven throughout the dialogue and the banter was the primacy and constancy of family.
Du Maurier has been quoted as observing, “All I can say is that I had a very happy
married life and have a delightful family.” Just before her death, I understand Elisabeth
expressed the same feeling to members of her family. Perhaps that is all any of us ever need to
be able to say. And what better way to describe Elisabeth’s life?
The other night I asked a group of family members to distill Elisabeth’s defining
personality traits into one word. “Don’t think about it,” I said. “Just go with it.” The responses
were as varied as the many facets and roles of Elisabeth’s life:
Spiritual.
Generous.
Loving.
Disciplinarian.
Disciplinarian.
Sweet.
Elegant.
Spontaneous.
To these I would add: Curious.
At her core it was intellectual curiosity that motivated her and for better or worse influenced and sometimes trumped other aspects of her life.
In Elisabeth’s lifetime, it was clear that she was the one who made things happen – her
family is in complete agreement on this. She was the instigator, the protagonist in the
developing plot of her life and her family’s story. She had a happy married life and a delightful
family because she made it happen. With equal parts of audacity and confidence, Elisabeth
decided to confront life and see opportunities not barriers.
family is in complete agreement on this. She was the instigator, the protagonist in the
developing plot of her life and her family’s story. She had a happy married life and a delightful
family because she made it happen. With equal parts of audacity and confidence, Elisabeth
decided to confront life and see opportunities not barriers.
If you look around you today, you will see Elisabeth everywhere in this cathedral. She
was the moving force behind the family’s donation of the pulpit, and her father served here for
years as Vicar General when Elisabeth was growing up on the island. Her family speaks
respectfully of Elisabeth’s core of spiritualism and I have the sense that while it was grounding it
did not tether or limit her in her approach to life. To the contrary, it seems to have enabled her
and given her wings. I think Life for Elisabeth was like wearing a bold pink hat—to be enjoyed
and experienced and shared with others. Can’t you just picture her now, with her dancing blue
eyes smiling out from under the brim? It makes me wonder what she is about to say. No doubt
she is about to persuade me to do something that I probably didn’t think I ever wanted to do. Oh,
yes, she had a gift . . . she had a gift, all right, and she had the gift of knowing how to use it. She
got things done. All her life she gathered her family and friends around her and gave them this
gift, too, and that is what will endure.
Du Maurier tells us in the novel Mary Anne that “[y]ears later, when she had gone and
was no longer part of their lives, the thing they remembered about her was her smile.”
Indeed. And I shall.
was the moving force behind the family’s donation of the pulpit, and her father served here for
years as Vicar General when Elisabeth was growing up on the island. Her family speaks
respectfully of Elisabeth’s core of spiritualism and I have the sense that while it was grounding it
did not tether or limit her in her approach to life. To the contrary, it seems to have enabled her
and given her wings. I think Life for Elisabeth was like wearing a bold pink hat—to be enjoyed
and experienced and shared with others. Can’t you just picture her now, with her dancing blue
eyes smiling out from under the brim? It makes me wonder what she is about to say. No doubt
she is about to persuade me to do something that I probably didn’t think I ever wanted to do. Oh,
yes, she had a gift . . . she had a gift, all right, and she had the gift of knowing how to use it. She
got things done. All her life she gathered her family and friends around her and gave them this
gift, too, and that is what will endure.
Du Maurier tells us in the novel Mary Anne that “[y]ears later, when she had gone and
was no longer part of their lives, the thing they remembered about her was her smile.”
Indeed. And I shall.
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