Elizabeth Ann Constantian, 1937-2020
Elizabeth was born on April 1, 1937, in Pasadena, California, at Pasadena Hospital (now Huntington Memorial), to Avedis and Nelly Constantian. Soon afterward, the family moved to San Diego, to help in the war effort. Both father and mother worked at Consolidated Vultee Aircraft, one during the day and the other at night. Her sister Linda was born there (1939); then, after V.E. Day, the family moved back to Pasadena and bought a little house in the northeast part of the city. Brother Jim arrived on the scene in 1947.
Elizabeth Ann Constantian, B.Div. (right), Nashotah House Graduating Class of 1970. Image courtesy Frances Donaldson Library, Nashotah House.
Elizabeth attended Webster Elementary, John Marshall Jr. High, and John Muir Junior College (as it was known then), before attending and graduating from UCLA with an MS in zoology in 1960. A gifted musician from an early age, both in piano and voice (alto), she became an expert on the early music recorder and could play melody, descant, or obligato with anyone. She really wanted to major in music at the university, but her mother insisted she be practical. So, she majored in zoology, because she liked the life sciences, and minored in music, which always remained her first love. Elizabeth joined the Madrigal Singers under Dr. Raymond Moremen, and also the music sorority Sigma Alpha Iota. One of her instructors was Roger Wagner, and she later sang with the Roger Wagner Chorale. She also was part of, and toured with, the Gregg Smith Singers.
As a child growing up in Pasadena, she attended a Presbyterian church, where she sang in all the children's and youth choirs but didn't really profess a personal faith. However, while at UCLA in 1955, she attended a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting at Miss Henrietta Mears’ home, where the head cancer surgeon at City of Hope, Dr. Ralph Byron, was speaking. It was there that Elizabeth yielded herself to the Lord and was transformed. She became a member of Alpha Delta Chi, the Christian sorority on campus and, from then on, used her musical talents to give praise to the Lord until she went home to be with Him.
On a very hot day in September in 1959, she married a fellow zoology student, Don Ewing, at her grandparents’ house in Pasadena. After graduating, they moved to Washington, where Don was stationed in the Army at Fort Lewis. Elizabeth made many friends in Tacoma at a church there and grew to love the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, the marriage lasted only two years, and after the divorce, she took back her maiden name and moved to Olympia and worked there. When she returned to Southern California, she began her quest for a place where she felt she belonged. This took her all over the U.S.
Letter to Elizabeth Ann Constantian from Dean of Nashotah House, Donald Parsons, 1969. Image courtesy Frances Donaldson Library, Nashotah House.
She started at an Episcopal Convent in Tucson, but this was too restrictive for her free spirit. Then it was on to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she taught Biology for a year while the regular instructor was on sabbatical. Then it was on to a seminary in New York. While there, she became part of the charismatic renewal that was exploding in the mainline churches at that time. From there, she went to Nashotah House in Nashotah, Wisconsin, from 1969-70, B.Div. Still not finding the spiritual home she was seeking, Elizabth started becoming discouraged, until she heard about the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, an inner city church in Houston, Texas, with a very active ministry. So she went there and became part of the community, singing in the choir and writing music under director Betty Pulkingham and organist George Mims.
Elizabeth loved nature and enjoyed hiking around Big Bend Park and the Guadalupe Mountains, in Texas, and the Organ Mountains and White Sands near Las Cruces, New Mexico. She qualified as a medical technologist and spent several years in hepatitis research at Baylor University, which she remembered as the best job she ever had. At this time, Texas’ oil crisis forced research funding to run out, so she moved to El Paso, got a second MS degree in microbiology, and taught at El Paso City College. The funding for that also ran low so she changed careers again, becoming an LPN.
Elizabeth was a member of The Church of St. Clement in El Paso. She worked for a short time at Fort Bayard, near Silver City, New Mexico, and also at Good Samaritan Village in Las Cruces, before moving to St. David, Arizona, around 1998. She worked at Quiburi Skilled Nursing Center in Benson, Arizona, and became a docent at the Kartchner Caverns in Benson, Arizona, as a greeter and helping with tours after retirement. She was quite involved at the Benedictine Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David, often playing piano for mass. In recent years, she found a close and loving fellowship at Calvary St. David, a small congregation there. In 2010, Elizabeth enjoyed a trip to the Holy Land.
Elizabeth loved all animals, but her favorites were cats. In the final 20 years of her life, owning her own place at Apache Mobile Park in St. David, she adopted an elderly tortoiseshell that desperately needed a home. After that, it was brother and sister tabby cats, and lastly, a lively young tabby. They were her companions and brought her much joy. Sadly, Covid-19 struck, and Elizabeth passed away in Tucson, on November 24, 2020 while a sweet nurse with the same name, Elizabeth Ann, held her hand. She truly is missed, but is now singing in heaven with the heavenly choirs. Her final resting place on this earth is in the cemetery at Holy Trinity Monastery, St. David, Arizona. Elizabeth is survived by sister Linda (Nels Roselund) of Rosemead, California, and brother James (Jim) Constantian of Monrovia, California.