Elizabeth Hilleary

December 10, 1932 to November 23, 2021

Elizabeth Hilleary, a resident of Monterey since 1962, died peacefully at home after a long illness. She was 88 years old. Elizabeth was born in England, the youngest of 4 children, to Peter and Allison (Dean) Leighton. Schooled at St. Monica’s Convent school in Skipton, Yorkshire, she emigrated to the United States in 1949 with her mother and sister, settling in Southern California. Elizabeth graduated from Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College. She was employed at the UCLA Main Library, and then at the Huntington Library in San Marino, where she met her future husband, Roger Hilleary. After their marriage in 1956, they moved to China Lake, California, where Roger was employed at the Naval Aeronautics Testing Center. In 1962, the family moved to their current home in Monterey when Roger started working at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School’s nascent computer center. Roger and Elizabeth were blessed with four children and fifty-five years of happy marriage.

Elizabeth was known as a kind and caring wife, mother, friend and neighbor. After the youngest of her 4 children entered elementary school, Elizabeth started using her library skills once again, as an instructional aide for the Monterey Peninsula Unified School district. During her career at MPUSD, she worked at several school libraries. She also worked as a school testing technician. Elizabeth especially loved assisting English as a Second Language students. She had many interests and hobbies, including healthful cooking and eating, sewing and embroidery, reading, and creating artwork (abstract oil paintings, and stone carvings). Roger and Elizabeth were members of the San Carlos Cathedral Catholic parish, where Elizabeth volunteered with the Religious Education program. She created beautiful liturgical banners for several of the diocesan churches and for the Fort Ord Main Chapel. She enjoyed assisting Roger with his hobby of printing miniature books on a 19th century Columbian printing press.

Elizabeth is survived by her four children, Teresa of Marina, CA, Mark of Rocklin, CA, Christopher of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Ann of Los Gatos, CA, as well as six grandchildren, Caroline, David, Brandon, Justin, Renee, and Marie. She was preceded in death by her husband Roger in 2011, two brothers, Peter and William, and by her sister, Helen Marie.

Elizabeth’s family would like to express their appreciation for all of the family, friends, caregivers and medical professionals who assisted and prayed for Elizabeth during her final years, months and days. A private graveside service was held at the San Carlos Cemetery. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated in March 2022 at the San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey. In lieu of flowers, donations in Elizabeth’s memory will be gratefully accepted by the Medical Missionaries of Mary

https://mmmworldwide.org,

The Assistance Fund of Cambodia http://www.assistancefundofcambodia.org, or by Dorothy’s Place https://www.dorothysplace.org/donate/.