Elizabeth Adams' Obituary
After 91 years of love, laughter, and music, a little pain, but mostly joy, Elizabeth Adams died peacefully at her home on December 23, 2022. She is survived by her sister, Catherine Adams, daughter Carol Chapin, son Eric Holm, and grandchildren, Danni Holm, Christine Holm, Matthew Holm, Lauren Thomas, and Allison Young.
Elizabeth was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on November 14, 1931, to Richard Hopwood Adams and Ruth Bullock Adams. Nurtured by her parent’s love of music, she had a lifelong passion for classical music, opera, and piano. She was an average student in grade school and would later say that she “didn’t do numbers.” Teaching and music were her vocational passions. Liz, as she was known to most of her friends, married Arnold “Chip” Chapin in 1953, earned her Bachelor of Arts from Western Maryland College in 1954 and gave birth to a son Richard Winfield Chapin in 1955 (d. 2001) and a daughter Carol Chapin in 1957. Liz began teaching general education to elementary school children in 1960. Chip and Liz divorced, and she then married Weston Holm and gave birth to a son Eric Holm in 1962. Over the next seven years, Liz taught school, raised three children, divorced again, and achieved her Master of Education from Western Maryland College in 1969. She subsequently joined the Montgomery County Maryland Interrelated Arts Program. She began teaching music to elementary children throughout the county and training teachers to integrate music into the elementary curriculum.
As her children grew, Liz’s household was the one that all the kids wanted to visit. Her loving open-door policy meant she was the “cool mom” to her children’s friends. She married Alec Lichtman in 1970. Liz and Alec amicably divorced in 1975, and she moved to Potomac, Maryland. Liz met David Young several years later, and after dating for a few years, they married in 1986. David retired as the Producing Director of the American College Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and in 1991 accepted a position as a Graduate Research Professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Florida. Liz and David remained happily married for 33 years until he died in 2019.
Liz and David loved the intellectual and creative atmosphere of Gainesville, Florida. Liz decided to pursue a doctoral degree, achieving her Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education from UF in 2002. She also continued her passion for music education by teaching piano. At its zenith, her roster of students reached seventeen. She was a choir member at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Gainesville and assisted with their children’s Angel Choir. Her faith was strong, and she loved her church deeply.
The outpouring of love from her friends has been immeasurably comforting to her family. On Saturday, January 28th at 11 am, a memorial service for Dr. Elizabeth Adams will be held at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 100 NE 1st St. Gainesville, FL 32601, with a reception to follow. Instead of flowers, donations in her honor can be made to the Holy Trinity Music Program at the above address.
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