Obituary of Elizabeth Putnam
Elizabeth “Lib” Putnam (neé Sprague) died peacefully in her sleep at 7:05 p.m., on Sunday, 26 April 2020 at Vanderman Place, Willimantic, CT. Born in Boston, MA, on 29 November 1930, to Isaac (Jr) and Elizabeth (Clarke) Sprague of Boston, MA, she attended the Northfield School (Northfield, MA), and spent five summers working as a waitress at the hotel on Star Island, one of the Isles of the Shoals (NH), which she often called one of her favourite places “in the world”. After Northfield, she attended the University of New Hampshire (1949-51), but left to marry Stanley Reno Putnam of Winchester, NH, on 24 March 1951 in Peterborough, NH. (They divorced in 1976.)
They moved to East Woodstock, CT in 1957, where she lived until moving to South Woodstock, where she opened a one-woman plant and garden center, The Watering Pot, on Rte 169. While running The Watering Pot, she completed her bachelor’s degree in business and horticulture at the University of Connecticut. She closed The Watering Pot in 1995 and moved to Dayville, CT, where she lived on Weeks Lane, until moving to the Seely Brown Village in Pomfret Center in 2018.
An expert gardener—planting 2000 daffodils or tulips was all in a day’s work, and prodigious swimmer (swimming back and forth across Pond Factory in Woodstock, and Lake Alexander in Dayville were favourite routines), Lib was also a skilled musician who sang in the choir, served as substitute organist and pianist at East Woodstock Congregational Church, and put her children to sleep by playing Mozart or Beethoven on the piano. While at EWCC she drove meals to shut-ins and seniors as part of the ministry of FISH (Friendship in Serving Humanity), and was instrumental in raising funds for the church’s carillon.
After moving to South Woodstock, she became a faithful and active member of First Congregational Church of Woodstock, where she volunteered for a variety of projects and ongoing ministries—anonymously sending hundreds of birthday and anniversary cards on behalf of the church, knitting dozens of prayer shawls and scores of hats for preemies. Her great-grandchildren love to wear the sweaters that she knit from patterns that were “in her fingers”, and always receive compliments when they wear them.
Lib’s counsel was often sought by her many friends, and freely given when requested, always with a warm and cheering smile.
She was pre-deceased by both of her sisters and her brother, a son (Robert Stanley), grand-daughter (Lydia Tribbie Marlowe), and great-grand-daughter (Kathryn Elizabeth Godshall). She is survived by four children—Frederic Clarke Putnam, Elizabeth Louise (Wickman), Patricia Jane (Yang), Pamela Carrie (Marlowe), four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
A note of special thanks goes to Dr. Leilani Nixon, her medical proxy, and the Rev. Ms. Debbie Pallatto-Fontaine, her interim minister, whose care and friendship meant so much to her and were so greatly helpful to her widely scattered children.
A public memorial service will be held at First Congregational Church of Woodstock at a time and date to be announced.
Her family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be sent to either First Congregational Church of Woodstock Music Fund (543 Route 169, Woodstock, Connecticut 06281) or to Windham-Tolland 4H Camp Scholarship Fund (326 Taft Pond Road, Pomfret Center, CT 06259).