Elizabeth Gordon James

Liz James’ adventurous spirit left her physical body on January 1, 2026, in Austin, TX. Our mother was born Elizabeth Fay Gordon on Nov 13, 1928, in Duluth, MN, to Harry Allen and Fay Lillian (Stuempges) Gordon, the youngest of four with three older brothers. Her father, Harry, was a U.S. Prohibition Officer and when Prohibition ended, a U.S. Customs Patrol Officer. Her mother, Fay, was a homemaker who also worked as a floral arranger and a baker. Throughout most of her life, Mom was known by her family and friends as “Betty”. Much later, however, she preferred to go by “Liz”.

Betty and her family also lived in Pembina, ND, and then Ely, MN, where she graduated from high school. She loved cats and dogs and grew up with both pets in the household, but cats were her favorite.

In 1949, Betty married Paul R. Smith, Jr, moved to Tulsa, OK, and had four daughters, Adrian, Diane, Susan, and Valerie. After their divorce she found the true love of her life, Carl Andrew (Andy) Reid. They married in 1961 and together had another daughter, Sarah, while co-parenting Andy’s three children, Robert, Jeffrey, and Renee.

Our mother once mentioned that she’d wanted to be a race car driver. Instead, she became a homemaker, but she also found time to enjoy a range of hobbies and vocations. She obtained her pilot’s license in her 20s and taught piano lessons to the neighborhood kids. Her musical taste was eclectic, and she played everything from classical music to hymns to George Gershwin and other popular standards, as well as showtunes and boogie-woogie. She even dipped her toes into Tom Lehrer’s satirical ditties and taught us kids the songs so we could sing along. Mom played the piano at church and in pizza parlors and was equally comfortable in both settings. She was an excellent seamstress and clothed her daughters in the latest fashions, from the seersucker bubble rompers of the 1950s to our high school formal gowns. Her creativity extended to painting and decorating the various homes we lived in, refinishing antique furniture, decoupage and needlework.

Moving around didn’t seem to bother our mother, possibly because of the different places her father’s jobs took the family. In addition to Oklahoma, Mom lived in some interesting towns in Texas (Midland, Houston, Brownwood, San Angelo and Austin) and Arkansas (Dardanelle, Russellville, and Rover), also in Tallulah, Louisiana and Sedona, Arizona.

Our mother was not afraid to try new things. On her own, she moved from Louisiana to the Twin Cities in Minnesota where she registered for college and, at around age 67, obtained a bachelor’s degree in gerontology while caring for an elderly gentleman in his home in exchange for room and board.

Mom was quite the intrepid explorer in her later years. Our sister, Adrian, whisked her off to Europe and Great Britain, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica (where she ziplined), and Colombia. For her 68th birthday, she and a friend took a hot air balloon ride which had been Mom’s dream for decades. Sometime later, she and that friend went to Spain. When she was 88 and losing her eyesight, Mom and our sister Valerie boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train across British Columbia to Banff National Park. Another adventure checked off her bucket list!

Our mother was blessed with a sense of humor, bawdy at times, and told us kids jokes as soon as we were old enough to understand the punchlines. She loved to make people laugh and possessed the rare gift of joke recall throughout her long life. Wherever she lived, Liz was frequently invited to participate in her retirement center’s talent events as the resident stand-up comedian.

Liz is survived by her daughters, Adrian Smith, Diane Birsner (David Schmalz), Valerie Maurer (Tom), and Sarah Santos (Walter Graupner); four grandchildren, Carl Biel (Lisa), Maren Williams (Owen), Leah Donovan (Andrew), and Grace Santos; five great-grandchildren, Eliza, Brenn, Logan, Rowan, and Molly; and many nieces and nephews and their families. Liz is pre-deceased by her husband, Andy Reid, her daughter, Susan Smith Gulitti, and her brothers, Robert, Richard, and Harry Gordon, Jr.

Maybe we didn’t inherit her talent for remembering jokes in succession, but Mom’s fearlessness and love of adventure is the legacy she passed on to all of her daughters.