Elisabeth Sheerin Palmedo

Elisabeth "Betsy" Palmedo

February 25, 1935 - February 20, 2024

Elisabeth Palmedo led a long, adventurous and charmed life and experienced a very peaceful death on February 20.

Her mother, Maria Williams Sheerin, was from a Richmond family which preceded the founding fathers of Virginia. Betsy was proud to be a "direct descendent of George Washington's sister." Betsy's father, the Rev. Charles Sheerin, was an Episcopal minister born in Pittsburgh to an Irish family that recently immigrated from Scotland. Her father was loved by everyone and known for joyously playing Irish songs on the piano's black keys.

Betsy was the youngest child of three. Her brother Charles came first, then her sister Maria. Betsy arrived six years later. When Betsy was only 13 years old, her father's life was cut short by a heart attack at age 50.

She began cultivating her talent in singing, especially classical operatic music. She graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1960 and met her future husband, Phil Palmedo during her time there. He was earning his PhD in nuclear engineering. They married in 1961 and would live in Paris, then on Long Island with sons Chris (b 1966) and Lawrence (b. 1970), in Shoreham, later Setauket, and finally Head of the Harbor.

In 1976 Elisabeth Palmedo dazzled a Carnegie Recital Hall audience with her New York debut. She performed a challenging program by Purcell, Schubert, Duparc and others. The New York Times called out the "clear, pure top" of her voice and noted that "the more a song asked of her the more she brought to it."

Thanks to her husband, Betsy was able to travel the world, which she embraced with enthusiasm. These included adventures in Indonesia, Peru, South Africa, and Kenya, where the family found itself in the middle of a military coup in Nairobi. Her harrowing account was later published in an interview with the Three Village Herald.

In the early 1980's, she and a group of talented classically-trained musicians launched the North Shore Pro Musica. As her close friend and collaborator Olga Zilboorg commented in a newspaper profile: ''People used to think that just because artists were local they had to be something less than first-class professionals.'' But the Pro Musica dispelled that misconception by putting on world class concerts throughout its 40-year run. Along with being the co-founder, Betsy served as president, treasurer, and whatever else needed done. As she said to the Times before one concert, ''performing chamber music is like an addiction. You need it to keep going.'' Of the Pro-Musica, she told a reporter "In unity there is strength."

She performed in many other ensembles, such as the Galatia Trio, which staged a landmark concert at the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in New Hampshire. More recently, she enjoyed working with the Lark Trio, with her dear friends Bonnie Thivierge and Ann Jupp.

Elisabeth Palmedo was dedicated to promoting modern and contemporary composers, especially her friends Jack Lessard and Willard Roosevelt. These works were challenging, but she successfully dedicated herself to interpreting and performing serious classical music with eagerness and enthusiasm. To a reporter, she once said of Willard Roosevelt: "He wrote 'Sparkling and Bright' for me, and as far as I know, it's the only drinking song ever written for a soprano."

Her multitude of students have included young talents on their way to conservatory, gray haired professionals seeking to master show tunes, and all personalities in between. Her recitals featured a range of artistic expression and were always joyous occasions.

Betsy spent great effort ensuring that the musicians she worked with were well paid. She also would not hesitate to offer visiting artists dinner and a room to sleep overnight. She certainly enjoyed planning and hosting parties, including summer jazz soirees which featured her grandson Tree on trumpet.

Married into the Palmedo Family, she braved difficult ski mountains but remained a lifelong beginner, despite photographic evidence to the contrary creatively conjured up by her father in law Roland Palmedo. She was, however, able to hold her ground in fierce doubles tennis matches with her boys and friends.

Politically, she was a Liberal Democrat from the inside out. A lifelong supporter of Planned Parenthood, she and Phil received a Leadership of the Year award in 2019. Along with her dedication to musician well-being, her many charitable causes included serving as board member of Pazapa, a school for the handicapped in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake in 2010.

She was blessed with bountiful friends, some of her closest being her niece Maria and "sister cousins" Penelope and Mary Page. Also her "Liberal Ladies Luncheon" group, the Nissequogue Beach Club community, friends from the North Suffolk Garden Club, her chums from Boston, and over the decades, a steady stream of wild and crazy musicians who helped underscore the undeniable fact that Elisabeth Palmedo was an artist at her heart and soul.

Her last years were spent enjoying her beautiful home where she was regularly visited by her sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren aged ten months to 30 years.

Her final days were spent in the company of her beloved husband of 63 years, her infinitely loyal hound dog Brogan, and her invaluable caretaker Sol Starcic.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be held on Sunday, April 7 at 4 pm at St. James Episcopal Church, 490 N Country Rd, St James, NY. Reception to follow.

Family members request nothing more than to reflect on her enthusiasm for life and the arts; but she would most certainly have approved a donation in her memory to the Hudson Peconic chapter of Planned Parenthood, Inc.