Dr. Elizabeth Caspari

PARADISE VALLEY - Paradise Valley resident, Dr. Elizabeth Caspari, 102, passed on at her home on July 11, 2002.

Dr. Caspari was born Sept. 5, 1899, in Chateau d' Oex, a small alpine village in French-speaking Switzerland. She was the oldest of four children. Dr. Caspari developed a sense of service from her parents. Her father, Charles Getaz, was the local pharmacist who specialized in the use of healing herbs of the nearby mountains. His illustrated botany book was valued as a resource for Swiss pharmaceutical students. Her mother, Pauline Morier, was a comforting presence during illnesses and at the time of passing for many in their community.

As a child, Elisabeth Caspari endured pain, overcame a crippling physical condition and, with uncommon determination, prepared for a life of world service. Not willing to remain an invalid, she looked to encouraging scripture, prayer, and followed various alternative health practices, which included a vegetarian diet and early morning sunbaths. Elisabeth amazed family and doctors by overcoming her disabilities, going off to college, establishing a well-known school of music in her native Switzerland, traveling the world, and becoming a highly regarded educator. For the rest of her long and fruitful life she continued faithful practice of spiritual and health-giving principles.

In 1927, Elisabeth Caspari earned her doctoral degree in music and pedagogy from Ecole Normale de Musique, in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1930, she met and married Charles Caspari, an engineer. Ten years later, they journeyed to India and Tibet to study world religions.

In 1941, while in India, she studied with Dr. Maria Montessori who was detained in India by WWII. The Casparis assisted Dr. Montessori for four years in developing the Montessori elementary materials while they were teachers at Kodiacanal, a school for children of American missionaries. This contact with Maria Montessori was life-changing: from then and to her last day, she was one-pointed in her dedication to the furthering of Montessori education.

In 1949, the Casparis arrived in Independence, Mo., and reintroduced the Montessori method of education to America. In 1964, she continued her Montessori studies in Verona, Italy, and there received both the preschool and elementary Montessori certificates. After phenomenal success in her own school, she began establishing schools and training teachers in Missouri, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and in Mexico. In 1973, she co-founded the Pan American Montessori Society with Dr. Feland Meadows in Mexico City.

After the death of her beloved husband in 1978, she relocated in California, where she continued her work of establishing Montessori schools and training teachers in California and Colorado. In 1992, having outlived all her family, Dr. Caspari came to Paradise Valley, which was reminiscent of the Swiss valley of her childhood. She continued to teach and inspire yet another generation of Montessori teachers and children at Montessori Garden school. In 1998, she, with Patrick and Anita Wolberd, co-founded Caspari Montessori Institute for teacher education.

Dr. Caspari received numerous awards during her life, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education in 1996.

She will be greatly missed by hundreds of students and friends throughout the world who have been inspired by her life and have taken to heart her motto: Love is the Key.

A memorial service will be held for family and friends. Memorial gifts may be directed to the Elisabeth Caspari Fund, Caspari Montessori Institute, PO Box 657, Livingston, MT 59047.