Elizabeth Louise Carlson

Elizabeth Louise Northrup Carlson, beloved wife of Eric E. Carlson, mother to Christopher and Mary, and grandmother to Molly and Seth, passed away May 24, 2017 from complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis. She was 71.

Beth was born February 2nd 1946 in Ithaca, NY to Navy Lt. Cmdr Franklin Chester Northrup and wife Norma Louise (Grogan) Northrup. Beth was the oldest of Frank and Norma’s four children. Her siblings include Barbara Northrup (Port Orange, FL), Carl Franklin Northrup (Virginia Beach, VA), and Kathleen Northrup Baine (Cumming, GA). As the oldest sibling, Beth is lovingly remembered as our ‘rock,’ the person we always turned to for comfort and conversation in times of need and to share in our joys. Whenever possible, Beth traveled to family weddings, graduations, and other important events.

The family’s moves coincided with her father’s naval career through Pensacola, Florida, and Norfolk, Virginia, ending in San Diego where Beth attended junior high school and graduated from Kearny Senior High School in 1964. In high school she was involved in several activities, notably the school Drill Team. She was active in Rainbow Girls, an organization associated with the Mason. She was Worthy Advisor in 1963.

Beth graduated from the Washington School for Secretaries in Washington DC in 1966, and from San Diego Mesa College in 1976 with an AA degree in Management Occupations. She went on to work for several companies, eventually taking her back to San Diego where she worked for Gulf Atomic as secretary to the director of Public Relations and Advertising, Sun Harbor Industries as Administrative Personnel Manager, Van Camp Seafood Company as Senior Employee Relations Specialist, Photovolt Corporation and TRW Industries.

In June of 1975 Beth married Eric Carlson, a Senior Chief (MMCS) submariner in the US Navy. Beth always referred to Eric as her rock and cherished her life with him. For his final five years before he retired in 1980, they were stationed in San Diego. In November 1979, their son Chris was born. Because of her Rheumatoid Arthritis, she could not have any more natural children. When Chris was seven in 1986, they adopted four and a half-year old Mary.

Beth was tireless, despite her arthritis, in her efforts to get both children a good education and overcome their problems: Chris with epilepsy and Mary with substance abuse. She was successful with Chris. He was a Test Development Lead Engineer when he passed away from epilepsy in May of 2016. Beth was devastated by his passing and the physical problems that caused her death (congestive heart failure and COPD) became much worse in the last year. You could say she died of a broken heart.

Beth and Eric were awarded custody of Mary’s child, Molly, who is a wonderful, smart child and was one of Beth’s great joys.

Beth is also survived by nieces and newphews Samantha Elizabeth Baine (Atlanta, GA), Meredith Baine VanMeeteren (Montgomery, AL), Deena Feyerabend (Ball Ground, GA), Kristopher Northrup (Chesapeake, VA), Kimberly Northrup Bratley (Chesapeake VA) as well as several grandnieces and grandnephews.

Graveside Services will be on June 8th at 1:00 p.m. Beth’s ashes will be interred in Chris’ grave at Glen Abby Mortuary in Bonita, California.