Elizabeth Haynes

NORTHAMPTON – Elizabeth Haynes of Northampton, died of lung cancer Tuesday, June 20, 2017. She was 94 years old.

Raised in New York City, she attended the Brearley School and went on to graduate from Smith College. While at school she took up fencing and studied with Salle Santelli at the Fencers' Club. She was captain of the Brearley fencing teams.

After college, she studied at the Art Students' League and then spent a year in Paris, studying at Academie Julian and auditing classes at the Cordon Bleu cooking school.

She moved to Washington, D.C. and worked at the State Department answering letters from concerned citizens. Returning to New York, she worked at The Institute of International Education, the Travelers' Aid Society and the Big Sisters, counseling teenage girls on probation. She acquired a Masters Degree in Social Work at Hunter College and was a case worker for the Community Service Society.

On summer vacations, she became fond of Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard where she was an enthusiastic sailor and one summer won the Vice Commodore's Cup, awarded by the Edgartown Yacht Club. She reported on sailboat racing for the Vineyard Gazette. During World War II, as part of the civil defense of the Vineyard, which included spotting aircraft for fear they might be German, she took the dawn watch several days a week.

She moved to Northampton and edited a memoir by her father, Raymond B. Haynes, a New York investment banker, which led her further into family genealogy.

She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Chessie Haynes of Waitsfield, Vermont, a niece Sophy T. Haynes and her son Sebastian Haynes of Hackensack, New Jersey, and a nephew Robert Van Renssalaer of Camphill Village, Copake, New York. She was predeceased by a nephew, SFC Schuyler Haynes.

There will be a memorial service Saturday, July 29, at the Edwards Church of Northampton, 297 Main St., Northampton, at 2 p.m., with a reception to follow.

She has requested no flowers. Contributions in her name may be sent to Medicine Without Borders, Dakin Animal Shelter, and World Wildlife Foundation.

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