Elizabeth Ayer Hartwell Wallace died Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, at Masonic Healthcare Center, in her 84th year of life.
Born in Muskegon, Mich., she grew up in the Great Lakes region with her parents, Dr. Shattuck Wellman Hartwell and Kathleen Gemmell Hartwell, her brother, Shattuck, and sister, Kathleen. Elizabeth’s family moved and lived in Northampton, Mass. during World War II, while her father served as a surgeon in New Guinea. Elizabeth attended Northampton School for Girls and graduated from Smith College in 1951 with a degree in music and English.
After graduating from Smith, Ms. Hartwell taught school in Greenfield, Mass., where she met her future husband, Dr. Edward Paez Wallace. Dr. Wallace and Miss Hartwell were married in 1953 and began their married life living in Virginia, where Dr. Wallace was a physician with the U.S. Navy. In 1954, Elizabeth and her husband moved to Meriden, where they have lived ever since.
Elizabeth was very involved in the Meriden community from the beginning. She was an active member of the College Club, The Curtis Home, Thursday Morning Club, and St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Elizabeth and her husband were institutional in the founding and support of the Independent Day School in Middlefield, Conn. Along with her social activities, Elizabeth and her husband dismantled, moved, reassembled, and restored an early 1700s home in Meriden. She was a loving mother of three children, Robert, Ann, and Julia, and she and her family enjoyed skiing, sailing, and traveling. Elizabeth was a gifted writer and poet. True to her Midwestern roots, Elizabeth was a friend to everyone she met, spending the time to listen to their stories and share hers.
Elizabeth is survived by her three children, Robert Martin Wallace, of Belchertown, Mass.; Ann Wallace Sharpe, of Concord, Mass.; and Julia Wallace Paratore, of Waltham, Mass.; her four grandchildren, Timothy Edward Wallace, Douglas Beach Wallace, Austen Elizabeth Sharpe, and Lucian Wallace Sharpe; and her sister, Kathleen Hartwell Lambacker, of Hudson, Ohio. Elizabeth’s husband of 61 years, Dr. Edward P. Wallace; and her brother, Dr. Shattuck Wellman Hartwell Jr., of Cleveland, Ohio, predeceased her.