Elizabeth Holmes

Hard to Keep Up With
One morning in June, Elizabeth Holmes called her fiancé and informed him that she was ready to take him up on his offer to go ring hunting on 47th Street, so off they went. In no time at all, she found the diamond of her dreams: a $6,500 beauty. "I looked at the price tag and started to sweat, and when she asked me what was wrong, I told her it must be the bright lights in the store," said Ron Harden, who had hoped to present her with the ring at Christmas.

They planned to marry next year and move in together in Harlem, where she lived with her son, Miles Travis; they were also in the process of buying a car she picked out during a trip home to visit relatives in South Carolina this summer, a Toyota Highlander.

A devoted runner, Ms. Holmes, 42, circled Central Park every day, and often put in a second run if she felt dissatisfied with her morning jog. "I'm a runner, too, but I couldn't keep up with her," said Mr. Harden. She sewed her own clothing, sang in the choir at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, and was always halfway through a book. She worked in the communications department at Euro Brokers.