I have such fun memories of Liz! In jr. high I would often walk up Ashland Avenue to her house and we would hang out in her room playing records and making up crazy dances to each song. One of her favorite songs at that time was "Island Girl" by Elton John and she use to play that record over and over again. Liz was always smiling and full of personality. I will never forget her!
I remember staying the night at Liz's house and thought that A frame was the coolest thing ever! She always wanted to watch scary movies and I wasn't so keen on that! I always slept with the lights on at her house! When I hear the song "Ricky Don't Lose that Number", I think of her! We played 45's ALL the time!! Liz was always a friend.....miss ya girl!
I loved looking out the windows in the back of her house at the lights of Ashland. I remember the parakeet she had that would fly around in the house. Liz and I rode our bikes to her dad's auto parts store all summer long. Then we'd push our bikes back up Ashland Ave. We did a lot of sleigh riding down Ashland Ave the year we had all the ice and were out of school because sub-zero temperatures wouldn't let the ice melt off the streets. Liz was a great friend...I remember her best with her hair in braids.
Liz was so friendly and good natured it was difficult at first for me to see beyond this outstanding quality to even more wonderful traits. Her eyes sparkled as she laughed her unique laugh. She was a ballet dancer and I remember dancing a duet with her, and also meeting her for the first time at about age 3 or 4. We were in classes together for years and everyone wanted to be her friend. She radiated likability.
John David Johnson's mother measured us for our ballet costumes and was so kind. She always tried her best to be sure she didn't hurt any of us with her sewing pins as she professionally tailored our costumes. I remember those fittings. It was fun to learn what costume we would be wearing for the annual recital.
I recall Liz being one of very few dancers still in the room after June Conn invited some of us to dance in a master class for a visiting Ballet Master, Ivan Rabinovsky. Although Liz was famous for putting herself down and joking about her lack of skill I saw her dance that day as well as I could have imagined anyone on a stage in St. Petersburg, Moscow, or New York City. She was athletic and graceful both. I'll never forget it.
She was extremely intelligent. She so often led the fun and told jokes, that it might be easy to forget the other topics of conversation between us. We spoke together of languages, international affairs, politics, geography, and the difference between American, French, and Russian ballet. After rock music we listened to Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Khachaturian. She thought she might enjoy visiting the Bolshoi Theater. It came as no surprise to me when I learned that she had passed the Foreign Service Exam with flying colors. Her understanding of dance, art, language, music, and culture I'm sure served her well in her career.
One of the times I stayed at her house, the family had welcomed Mexican exchange students for a visit. She spoke to one of them with ease in Spanish, and told me that she was determined to one day master that language and perhaps several others. Even though so many other people spent far more time with Liz than I did - she impacted my life. I adored her. I always hoped to one day see her again. I wanted to know where she had lived, who she had met, what her work entailed, and every little aspect of her experiences after college and in life. She was so interesting.
The thing which I know to be true is this - she lived life to the fullest every day of her life. I feel completely certain of this. I am just glad a few of those days of her life intersected with mine.
I miss Liz still. We were good friends in grade school at Crabbe, so many fond memories. Staying at her house (still one of my favorite houses in Ashland), hanging off the back of her mom's station wagon while driving up the hill to her house, roasting marshmallows in her fireplace, her guinea pig Hamlet, lots of overnights, and lots of goofing off. She was taller than I was, so I used to get her clothes after she grew out of them, and she had some great clothes. I still have a horse sweater she gave me, something to remember her by. We kinda went our separate ways for a few years through junior high and early high school, but we kept in touch after that. She was at my wedding back in Dec '83. I remember her husband working in Saudi Arabia for the government motor pool during Dessert Storm, and both Liz and Jerry going to Russia for a while. I was truly heartbroken when they were killed in that awful car crash, and Mark and I were in the handful of people from Ashland that attended their memorial in Lake Wales, FL, where they lived with a menagerie of pets, no kids, and Jerry owned a foreign car garage. What a surprise, Liz had been the Mardi Gras Queen for the local celebration. Right before they died, Jerry had been on the Porsche racing team, and Liz had visited with her siblings while they were up north, which was a blessing for them later on. I will always think of Liz as lively and golden and having a smile.
Amy Haney (Hasenauer)
I have such fun memories of Liz! In jr. high I would often walk up Ashland Avenue to her house and we would hang out in her room playing records and making up crazy dances to each song. One of her favorite songs at that time was "Island Girl" by Elton John and she use to play that record over and over again. Liz was always smiling and full of personality. I will never forget her!Jane Kimbrell (Dixon)
I remember staying the night at Liz's house and thought that A frame was the coolest thing ever! She always wanted to watch scary movies and I wasn't so keen on that! I always slept with the lights on at her house! When I hear the song "Ricky Don't Lose that Number", I think of her! We played 45's ALL the time!! Liz was always a friend.....miss ya girl!Linda Adkins
I loved looking out the windows in the back of her house at the lights of Ashland. I remember the parakeet she had that would fly around in the house. Liz and I rode our bikes to her dad's auto parts store all summer long. Then we'd push our bikes back up Ashland Ave. We did a lot of sleigh riding down Ashland Ave the year we had all the ice and were out of school because sub-zero temperatures wouldn't let the ice melt off the streets. Liz was a great friend...I remember her best with her hair in braids.Lisa Barber
Liz was so friendly and good natured it was difficult at first for me to see beyond this outstanding quality to even more wonderful traits. Her eyes sparkled as she laughed her unique laugh. She was a ballet dancer and I remember dancing a duet with her, and also meeting her for the first time at about age 3 or 4. We were in classes together for years and everyone wanted to be her friend. She radiated likability.
John David Johnson's mother measured us for our ballet costumes and was so kind. She always tried her best to be sure she didn't hurt any of us with her sewing pins as she professionally tailored our costumes. I remember those fittings. It was fun to learn what costume we would be wearing for the annual recital.
I recall Liz being one of very few dancers still in the room after June Conn invited some of us to dance in a master class for a visiting Ballet Master, Ivan Rabinovsky. Although Liz was famous for putting herself down and joking about her lack of skill I saw her dance that day as well as I could have imagined anyone on a stage in St. Petersburg, Moscow, or New York City. She was athletic and graceful both. I'll never forget it.
She was extremely intelligent. She so often led the fun and told jokes, that it might be easy to forget the other topics of conversation between us. We spoke together of languages, international affairs, politics, geography, and the difference between American, French, and Russian ballet. After rock music we listened to Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Khachaturian. She thought she might enjoy visiting the Bolshoi Theater. It came as no surprise to me when I learned that she had passed the Foreign Service Exam with flying colors. Her understanding of dance, art, language, music, and culture I'm sure served her well in her career.
One of the times I stayed at her house, the family had welcomed Mexican exchange students for a visit. She spoke to one of them with ease in Spanish, and told me that she was determined to one day master that language and perhaps several others. Even though so many other people spent far more time with Liz than I did - she impacted my life. I adored her. I always hoped to one day see her again. I wanted to know where she had lived, who she had met, what her work entailed, and every little aspect of her experiences after college and in life. She was so interesting.
The thing which I know to be true is this - she lived life to the fullest every day of her life. I feel completely certain of this. I am just glad a few of those days of her life intersected with mine.
Ida Dowell (Hermansdorfer)
I miss Liz still. We were good friends in grade school at Crabbe, so many fond memories. Staying at her house (still one of my favorite houses in Ashland), hanging off the back of her mom's station wagon while driving up the hill to her house, roasting marshmallows in her fireplace, her guinea pig Hamlet, lots of overnights, and lots of goofing off. She was taller than I was, so I used to get her clothes after she grew out of them, and she had some great clothes. I still have a horse sweater she gave me, something to remember her by. We kinda went our separate ways for a few years through junior high and early high school, but we kept in touch after that. She was at my wedding back in Dec '83. I remember her husband working in Saudi Arabia for the government motor pool during Dessert Storm, and both Liz and Jerry going to Russia for a while. I was truly heartbroken when they were killed in that awful car crash, and Mark and I were in the handful of people from Ashland that attended their memorial in Lake Wales, FL, where they lived with a menagerie of pets, no kids, and Jerry owned a foreign car garage. What a surprise, Liz had been the Mardi Gras Queen for the local celebration. Right before they died, Jerry had been on the Porsche racing team, and Liz had visited with her siblings while they were up north, which was a blessing for them later on. I will always think of Liz as lively and golden and having a smile.