Elizabeth Partridge Goldsmith, loving wife of the late Robert (Bob) Goldsmith, passed away peacefully at the age of 94 on June 12, 2021 in Oak Ridge North, Texas. She was born on November 17th, 1926 in Lake Charles, Louisiana to Joseph Arlington Partridge and Elizabeth Krause Partridge. In addition to Bob, she was predeceased by her parents and siblings Joseph Partridge, Jr. and Pauline (Paula) Partridge Willetts. She is survived by her daughter, Melissa Smoot Gossman (father Peter Smoot, deceased) and her husband Bryan, stepdaughter Leslie Katz and her husband David, stepson Matthew Goldsmith, several nieces, nephews, cousins and her dog Buddy. She was affectionately known as Grammy by her grandchildren, Stephanie Gossman (Frank) Bianchi and Michelle Gossman (Matthew) Gilbert, Lindsay and Jeffrey Katz and was Great Grammy to Sofia and Brooks Bianchi and Emma Gilbert.
Growing up in Lake Charles, Elizabeth attended Central School and graduated from Lake Charles High School in 1944. Afterwards, she attended Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University) and Newcomb College (now Tulane University) in New Orleans. She studied art and was very creative. Many of her works are family treasures. Elizabeth joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma women’s fraternity at Newcomb where she met many life-long friends. She was very proud of her women’s fraternity and remained involved in alumni activities throughout her life and recently received her 75th anniversary pin.
After attending school, she moved to Houston, Texas where she worked for the Houston Post newspaper as an artist sketching clothing advertisements. In Houston, she met her first husband, Peter Smoot. They were married in Lake Charles at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. They had one daughter, Melissa. In 1957, they relocated to Southern California.
In California, Elizabeth worked as an interior designer, owned a consignment shop and sold real estate. In 1979, she and two friends started the Red Plate Company. Their plates were marketed across the United States and Canada and are still being sold today by a successor company. At its peak, the company sold over 75,000 plates a year and grossed more than $1 million dollars in annual revenue. She was also a docent at the Los Angeles County Art Museum and was involved with the Westside Guild, National Charity League, and Laguna Beach Arts Council.
In 1991, she returned to her beloved childhood home of Lake Charles where she met and later married Bob Goldsmith on August 7, 1993. Elizabeth always described the years she spent with Bob as the happiest of her life. They shared many years of love, travel and fun together until his passing in 2014.
Elizabeth was a strong, independent woman. She loved traveling, gardening, spending time with family and a happy hour cocktail, particularly a “good” Old Fashioned. She was always the life of the party.
A service celebrating Elizabeth’s life will be held at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Charles, Louisiana on August 12th, 2021.
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