Elizabeth Marie Thorpe

Elizabeth Marie (Betty) Thorpe died July 1. She passed peacefully in her sleep.

Betty was born Elizabeth Marie Carrick on July 6, 1925, in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to Edward John Carrick and Lillian Rosemary (McCarthy) Carrick. Her father was in the U.S. Navy and stationed there at the time. She traveled a lot following her father from duty station to duty station. Mostly Norfolk, Va. And San Diego, Ca. She attended Catholic schools and was proud of her Irish heritage.

She met her future husband, Elwood Luchus Thorpe, Sr. on Pearl Harbor day 1941. She always said jokingly that two wars started that day! They married on Aug. 2, 1943. He was in the U.S. Navy for twenty years and she followed him to his duty stations. Even to Trinidad. She has always been proud of the family heritage of military service. Her father, brother, son, and three grandsons served in the U.S. Navy.

After her husband retired from the navy, they settled in Santee, Ca. She was a home maker . In her forties, she obtained her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse.

She liked challenges and travel. In her fifties , she learned to ride motorcycles. She and her husband would travel all over the western U.S. on them. They even rode them from El Cajon, Ca. to Spokane for the Expo. They toured the country for a year in their motor home during the U. S. Bicentennial. In her sixties, she started studying karate. She became a black belt in Am-Ka-Jetsu. She participated in several demonstrations.

She moved to Lind in 2000 to live with her daughter and her daughter’s husband. It was a big change for a city girl. She was a member of the Lind Senior Center and served on the board for one year as president. She belonged to St. Agnes Church in Ritzville.

She is preceded in death by her husband and her son Elwood Luchus Thorpe, Jr.

She is survived by her daughters, Therese Marie (Theodore) Doty of El Cajon, Ca. , Patricia Ann (Walter) Jackson of San Diego, Ca. and Rosemary (James) Elkington of Lind, nine grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

A Memorial Mass will be held Tuesday July 14, at 10:00 a.m. at St Agnes Catholic Church in Ritzville. Inurnment will be private.

Danekas Funeral Home and Crematory-Ritzville is entrusted with arrangements.