Elizabeth Ann Charette
d. August 3, 2017
Elizabeth Starkey Charette, age 92, a resident of Albuquerque, NM, since 1986, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.
Born in 1925, in Boston, MA, and a graduate of Brown University, her life was characterized by a steadfast commitment to family, church, community, teaching and the pursuit of higher education. After her marriage in 1946 to Joseph A. Charette, a diplomat with the U.S. State Department, she traveled extensively overseas, living in Korea, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Guyana, while teaching, writing and earning two Masters Degrees, one in Education, and one in Linguistics at Wagner College and the University of New Mexico respectively. She also earned a Doctorate in Educational Linguistics at UNM. She published numerous scholarly papers, received a fellowship to Hunter College, and was a columnist for newspapers in Seoul, Korea and Washington, D.C. She served as the Director of both the Nicaraguan-American Evening School and the Georgetown-American School in Guyana and taught English at Kyunggi Girl’s High School in Seoul, Korea. Her adventurous spirit and dedication to community continued throughout her life, from helping to build a brick church in Honduras and researching linguistics in Cameroon, to riding a camel in Syria and dogsledding in Iceland. Her devotion to the church was a constant throughout her life, including serving as a short term missionary at St. Mark’s on the Mesa, Treasurer and Altar Guild member at Daughters of the King, kitchen reception worker and luncheon organizer at the Cathedral of St. John, various positions at the Diocese of the Rio Grande, St. Martin’s homeless shelter and feeding the homeless at St. Paul’s K Street in Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph; her brother, Bruce; her parents, Abigail and Frederic Starkey; and her son, Bruce. She is survived by her five children, Edward, Susan, Fred, Deborah and Abbie.
A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. John, 318 Silver Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to UTO-New Mexico Attn. Dev. Office, 815 2nd Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017.