Elise Evans Gorun passed Tuesday, October 20, 2020, after a brief illness. She was surrounded by her family at home in Loveland, CO where she and her husband Alexander Gorun relocated from Chicago in July to be near their granddaughter.
Elise and Alex, together 51 years, travelled extensively throughout the US, Europe, Mexico, Asia and the Caribbean. Elise took immense pride in maintaining her beautiful homes in Chicago and Michigan which were filled with art and furnishings gathered from around the world, but most importantly, filled with family and friends.
Together Elise and Alex built a beautiful life which they generously shared with their “nearest and dearest.” Central to her life was her family with whom she was constantly surrounded. She was a gracious host and a renown gourmet cook. Elise maintained many friendships with old and new friends, including neighbors and co-workers. Elise took great interest in people and nourished these relationships. She actively participated in Chicago’s cultural life, attending art exhibits, lectures, jazz concerts, opera and theater.
Elise was born March 17, 1943 in Charleston, WVA where her father was briefly stationed during World War II. After the war, her father Samuel J. Evans, Jr and mother Gloria Lewis Evans returned home to Chicago where her sister Eve was born in 1947.
Elise earned a MA degree from the University of Illinois and embarked on a long teaching career with City Colleges of Chicago. With her mother and sister, she was co-owner of Hyde Park’s Sewing Circle, a retail fabric shop. A highlight of her working life was her tenure with Choose Chicago (an entity of the City of Chicago devoted to tourism), where she was able to share her love and knowledge of the city with visitors from around the world.
She married her high school sweetheart Roger Spencer and they had a daughter, Christine. Some years later she married Alex and together they had a daughter, Amy. Elise, Alex, Christine and Amy made their home in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood for many years. In the early 1970s they started spending summers in Union Pier, MI and in 1985 they built a home in New Buffalo, MI to which they added a large expansion in 1998. The family enjoyed this home until selling it in 2016.
In addition to her husband Alex and daughters Christine Evans Spencer (Robert Blankshain) and Amy Eve Avram Campbell, she is survived by granddaughter Eva Elise Avram Campbell, sister Eve Evans Earles; uncle John Overton Lewis (Edna); first cousins John O. Lewis II (Yvonne), Gregg Lewis, Cheryl Lewis (Norine Kotts), Janine Lewis; nephew Robert Evans Earles (Dana), niece Andrea Elise Earles (Sidy Sankhare); aunt-in-law Eliana Duncan and cousins-in-law Sherban Duncan (Olivia), Florica Duncan (George), Virgil Duncan, Dan Duncan, Adrian Spitzer, Ovid Priffer and Serge Priffer.
Elise leaves many more relatives and dear friends including Nettie Anthony Harris and Pat McCoo Langhart.
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