Dr. Elizabeth MacNaughton

1918 - 2017

Elizabeth Ann MacNaughton
1918-2017
Dr. Elizabeth ("Tiz") MacNaughton, age 99, passed away peacefully at her Houston home on Monday, December 4, 2017. Born Elizabeth Ann Hackett on July 2, 1918 in West Elwood, Indiana, she graduated Elwood High School; earned a BS from Adrian College where she became a member of Tri-Delta Sorority; and earned her Master's in Psychology and Doctorate in Education from the University of Houston. Though she received many proposals, she married only once - on Christmas Day 1941 - to Dr. John Frederick MacNaughton whom she met at Adrian.
Elizabeth's early life experiences forged self-reliance and resilience. Her mother, PTA President and a Methodist-Protestant Church Women's Club social activist, was frequently ill and died at Elizabeth's age 13. Strong, highly educated, and well-traveled, her mother's aunts cared for Elizabeth during and after those illnesses. From those Decker aunts, Elizabeth learned about their father - her great-grandfather Elias Baxter Decker - who fought in the US Civil War to win equal legal protections for all; the US Supreme Court ruling ten years later that women were not "persons" entitled to equal protection; and her great-aunts' relief when the 19th Amendment was introduced again in Congress the year Elizabeth was born. Her father, who chaired the local Republican Party (then still "the party of Lincoln") and shared an office with future Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie, lost their family home when he took a year off to try to save her mother and was blind-sided by the Great Depression. Elizabeth escaped what became a grim life in Elwood by working her way through college, nearly dying of diphtheria during her freshman year.
Dr. MacNaughton devoted her life to helping individuals build success strategies around core strengths. Her work at the UH Reading Clinic during the 1950s led her to Houston's St. John's School, which she joined in 1960 as head of its Reading Department – the school's first female department chair. Later the head of SJS Lower School, she was the first faculty woman to demand and receive equal pay. In 1967, she established her private practice as a licensed psychologist, retiring 40 years later at age 90 (5 years before giving up her silver Audi convertible). She served as a founding member of the Friends of UH Women's Studies board of directors and as president of the Girls Club of Houston.
Tiz's interest in politics followed the issues, not the party. During 1983-84, she served by Texas Governor Mark White's appointment on the Select Committee on Public Education chaired by future Independent presidential candidate Ross Perot. She was the driving force for limited K-3 class size, state-funded full-day kindergarten, and the no-pass-no-play rule that contributed to a meaningful jump in Texas literacy and benefited millions of Texans, and attended the 1984 Democratic National Convention as a guest – in thanks for a job well done – of former Texas Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby.
Her interests were varied. A keen reader, dancer, tennis player, bird-watcher, and gardener, she also loved travel. John and Tiz enjoyed US travels during his military service, and visited Mexico and Canada while their children were young. They traveled to Belgium and Africa before John died in 1978. After his death, Tiz continued to explore the world on her own (Tahiti, Easter Island, Spain, Mexico, China); with her daughter Ann (the Bahamas, Germany, Thailand, Ecuador's Amazon River, Nepal's Annapurna Sanctuary); her son Philip (Amsterdam, Istanbul, Kiev, Yalta, Paris); her grandson Chris (Canada and Mexico); her granddaughter Jessica (Canada and Costa Rica); and her friend Dr. Dolores (Dodie) McKellar (Patagonia, Morocco, Bucharest, Budapest, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia).
Tiz was a survivor. She lived as long as she did in order to vote for the first woman President of the United States, and died in hope that another Civil War need not be fought on US soil. She outlived her 5 siblings, Cleva Lois Marie, Henry Earl, Martha Jane, Paul Decker, and Marjorie Jeanne. She is survived by her children Ann (& husband Geoffrey Brune) and Phil; her grandchildren Chris (& wife Tiffany) and Jessica (& their mother Vickie MacNaughton King); and her great-granddaughters Maddy and Piper. The family plans a celebration of her life around the time of her 100th birthday next summer (see Caring Bridge updates).
Gifts in Elizabeth's memory to support the MacNaughton Endowed Fellowship at the UH may be mailed to University of Houston, PO Box 867, Houston Texas 77001-0867. This Fellowship is awarded to Ph.D. candidates and post-doctoral students pursuing cutting-edge research and publication into interpersonal communications effectiveness.