Elizabeth Cobb, aka “Lizzie,” a nickname that was given to her by one of her sisters, is one of our residents living on the Fairview unit. Lizzie was born in Webster Groves, Missouri, and has one older and one younger sister, Janet and Anna.  Lizzie was 8 years old when her family moved to Leesburg, Virginia. Her father, a pastor, had suffered a recent stroke and needed a smaller parish to run.

Lizzie attended the Stuart Hall Boarding School in Staunton, Virginia, for her junior and senior years of high school. During this time, Lizzie worked in the meat department of a local grocery store. She says, “That gave me great understanding of responsibility.”

While Lizzie was away at boarding school, her parents moved to Roanoke, Virginia.  Lizzie decided to stay in Roanoke for three more years, attending classes at local Hollins College. She absolutely loved it there and met her closest and dearest friend, Louise. After finishing her third year at Hollins, Lizzie decided to go away to Williams Smith College in Upstate, New York, for her final year. While there, Lizzie lived in a house with 19 other girls. It was not a sorority, but a way of easing the financial burden of the cost of college. She graduated with a degree in Spanish.

After graduation, Lizzie had no idea what she was going to do to earn a living. Fortunately Lizzie got a job teaching elementary school. She taught in Roanoke, Virginia, for two years, and then was offered a position teaching for the Navy in Newfoundland, Canada. After one year in Newfoundland, Lizzie decided to move back to the states.

Upon her arrival back home, Lizzie and her family moved to Haymarket, Virginia. Lizzie applied for a teaching job with Fairfax County Schools, which ended up being a 19 year long career teaching at the elementary grade levels.

Lizzie bought a home in Haymarket. It was one of the houses that was not burnt in the famous burning of 1862 during the Civil War. Lizzie says “I think the reason it was not burnt down was supposedly because, one night the Commander was playing cards and drinking, and was annoyed at his men for telling him about all the snipers in Haymarket. So the Commander told his men to go out and burn the town. But when the Commander realized that his men actually listened to him, he countermanded his order.” Lizzie spent years redecorating and upgrading her home, enjoying every minute of it.

This past summer, while Lizzie was hanging clothes in her closet, she had a fall and no one was there to help her get up, except for her cat, Rye. Of course Rye wasn’t going to be much help to get her up off the floor, so Lizzie unfortunately laid there for a whole day. Rye kept meowing and meowing at her, because all he wanted was to be fed! Lizzie and her nephew had a regular Sunday morning phone call with each other, and when he couldn’t reach Lizzie, he called his mother, who immediately had a rescue squad sent to Lizzie’s house. After a short hospital stay, Lizzie came directly to GHRC for some rehabilitation to get stronger. But while Lizzie was here for rehab, she realized that she did not want to go back to living alone in case something like that would ever happen again.

Lizzie has since sold her house to a nice family with a little girl. She said that they absolutely love the house and all of the history that goes along with it. Lizzie’s sister, Janet, has brought her cat, Rye, in to visit since she has been here. Lizzie says “Janet has this awesome carrier that she can just wheel Rye around in and makes it easy for her!” We are so happy to have Lizzie as part of our GHRC family, and are delighted to get to know her!

By Christina Horan, Activity Assistant