The following has been excerpted from the original, which appeared in Norfolk Now in September, 2005

By Dorothy S. Pam

Elisabeth Childs at her home, Coolwater, in 2005.

“If there’s nothing to do in Norfolk in the winter, then curl.” Elisabeth Childs likes all of the seasons in Norfolk—swimming in Tobey Pond in the summer, enjoying the color in the woods in the fall, and watching the action on the ice at the Norfolk Curling Club in the winter. In Norfolk, the name Elisabeth Childs is synonymous with curling. She and her husband Ted helped Robbie Robertson organize the curling club in 1956. Since then she has appeared at many a game in her kilt. Tobey Pond in the summer, enjoying the color in the woods in the fall, and watching the action on the ice at the Norfolk Curling Club in the winter. Experienced in the fine points of the game from spending many hours attending games with her father, Elisabeth joined the women of Utica who were among the first women to play the game. She has been sidelined from the game by a leg injury, but still is a strong supporter of the sport. When she first came to Norfolk as a new bride it was as if the town had been waiting for her to appear and play her leading role. Even before her bags were unpacked from her honeymoon, she found she had been elected Treasurer of the Women’s group at the Congregational Church. Always aware of the responsibilities of small town life, she graciously accepted. Over the years she has served on the boards of many civic institutions, including the Winsted Hospital, Northwest YMCA, Meadowbrook and the Norfolk Historical Society. Her service was honored when she was nominated to be a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary Foundation by the Winsted Rotary Club. Through the years the Church on the Village Green has been a touchstone: “It is part of my life, my family.” In her hands is her favorite book of the moment, given to her by Cay Fields, Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan, which includes the words and music of many of her favorite hymns with the stories of their origins. Elisabeth loves to lift up her voice in song with Rosemary Gill, and has sung in the church choir most of her life. A strong and direct personality, Elisabeth Childs accepts the changes that have occurred and are occurring in the church, because “the whole world has changed…everything is now more informal.” Education has also been another major interest. Even before she enrolled in the Nursery Training School of Boston (now Tufts Early Childhood Institute) the young Elisabeth had a nursery group. After graduation, for ten years she worked as a professional teacher in Springfield and Boston Massachusetts and on the East side of New York City. The warm summer day had just a hint of fall when I visited Elisabeth Childs. She received me in her bright sunroom, windows looking out to the gardens of the house she has lived in since her husband Ted brought her to his family’s home in 1951. The house is filled with the memory of their 45 years together until his death in 1995, and is still filled with the life of her four children and 12 grandchildren. As we chatted in the sunroom, outdoors grandchildren were riding bikes, daughters and daughter-in-laws were picking flowers, friends kept popping in to see how she was doing, and a tall grandson came to take his leave to return to college. Sitting up in her chair, Elisabeth clearly was the center of a full and wonderful life.