Elizabeth H. Standish

Elizabeth “Libbie” Standish, unwaveringly devoted and wholeheartedly loving wife, mother and grandmother, passed away at home peacefully in her sleep, early Monday morning, November 25th, 2019. To the end, she retained her humor, compassion and unflagging cheerfulness, repeatedly telling her loved ones that it was time for her to “take her final bow” and she was not afraid to die, looking forward, in fact, to reuniting with her husband and family that had gone before her.

Anyone who knew Libbie recognized her fierce independence as well as her genuine, deeply caring and generous soul. Daughter of Maurie and Julia Hymans, she grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey. A precocious and exceptionally gregarious child, she loved horses, dancing and playing with her older siblings. At the age of sixteen, she embraced her official wartime role of spotting for enemy aircraft near her home in New Jersey and overseeing house blackout exercises. When she met John C. Standish at a

dance in her late teens—as she wrote in her diary that very night—she immediately recognized that she had “met someone very special”. Their romance continued unabated while she finished her degree at Hollins College and he finished his at Dartmouth. In August of 1950, they married and moved to San Mateo, California, though work soon brought them back to the East Coast, eventually settling in Riverside, Connecticut.

As their three sons were growing up, Libbie went back to school in Fairfield to earn an master’s degree so she could teach at what was then Eastern Junior High School. She was an avid skier, tennis and bridge player, and remained active in the community as a counselor with Kids in Crisis until her husband’s health began to fail. For years, she tirelessly cared for him day in and day out until he passed away at home in October of 2016. Libbie is survived by her three sons, John, James, Steven, daughter in-law Chris, and her five grandchildren.