- SNELL (Tolson), Elizabeth Churchill
Announcing the death of Elizabeth Churchill Tolson Snell on September 5, 2019, she lived a full life with a nature that was theatrical, patriotic, intelli gent, exuberant, magical, passionate, and compassionate. She and her three siblings were born into a family that imbued history, business and writing, brought up in historic Scott Manor (Bedford, N.S.), by their father Richard F. R. Tolson, a local businessman and their mother, Elsie Churchill Tolson, mother of four, a keen amateur historian, author and latterly newspaper columnist. Within that environment, it was natural for Elizabeth to pursue a higher education, earning a B.A. in English and History (Dalhousie University, Halifax), Theatre studies (Stephen’s College, Columbia, Mo.), and then Journalism (University of King’s College, Halifax) of which she was proud, it being the oldest university in the British Commonwealth outside of Britain. Completing her university education Elizabeth joined the Halifax Mail-Star in 1958 and within a year had secured her own column, Pease Porridge Hot, writing on diverse subjects from fashion and society, to wheelchair access \'Steps Urged to Eliminate Steps\' and indigenous issues \'Native Indians Want Their Full Citizenship\'. A natural researcher, documentarian and archivist, she maintained exacting written records of everything that mattered to her, from family matters to financial records, historical papers and politics - following political leaders that piqued her interest at all levels of government, at home and abroad. She supported her mother in research with the publishing of a local history book, The Captain, The Colonel and Me, in 1979 and in 1994 researched and wrote her own book, The Churchills: Pioneers and Politicians England, America and Canada. It was published in the West Country, Devon, U.K., where Elizabeth explored the early beginnings of the Churchill family. Elizabeth was the 11th generation of her family in North America. In 1959, Elizabeth married her beloved James Snell with this reflection of their courtship: \'James drove past me at Dalhousie in his red convertible MG, then stopped and said that he would pick me up if I liked and go on a date after he had run an errand. I walked back to my digs thinking he wouldn’t turn up, but 10 minutes later he appeared and asked me to jump into his car. I didn’t jump out of his car again until he passed away in 2013.\' Community-minded, Elizabeth and James were involved in early efforts to clean up Bedford Basin upon which they sailed. In this, she supported James in his role as co-chair of the Canadian Olympic Trials in 1972, and as later president of the Nova Scotia Yacht Racing Association. She was also an active fundraiser and Board Member at the Halifax Bengal Lancers. She would later be a driving force, along with many others, in having Scott Manor become a museum which came to fruition in 1992 when it was bought by the Town of Bedford and is today a registered provincial and municipal heritage property. A service for Elizabeth will be held Friday, September 20th at 1 p.m. in All Saints Anglican Church, Bedford. Her burial will follow with a reception in Scott Manor at 2:30 p.m., the rest of her remains to be buried at Riverbank Cemetery in Hantsport at 4:30 p.m.
|
1935 - 2019 (84 years)
[1] 
