Elizabeth C. Jahncke

Elizabeth Carite Jahncke died on November 15, 2022 in Sarasota, Florida, of complications of Alzheimer's disease. She was 82.

Elizabeth had battled the disease bravely since her diagnosis in 2017. She remained physically active for several years thereafter, often enjoying long walks. She participated for several years in the A4 Study, one of the largest Alzheimer's disease clinical trials, in both New York and Florida.

She enjoyed a full and peripatetic life into her 70s. She was always game for the next adventure, including her final overseas trip in 2017, on the Queen Mary 2.

Elizabeth was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, daughter of Gustave and Agnes Carite and sister of Ken Carite, all of whom predeceased her.

After receiving her BA in English at Southeastern Louisiana College, she went to work for the Social Security Administration.

In 1969, Elizabeth moved with her husband and three-year-old daughter to Frankfurt, Germany, the start of a 16-year sojourn in Europe that also included six years in Brussels, Belgium.

While raising her daughters Liz and Alison, Elizabeth threw herself wholeheartedly into expat life, volunteering, making many lifelong friends, learning German and French, and traveling around Europe at every opportunity. Already an excellent cook, she attended culinary schools and programs in France and Belgium, where she perfected her French cooking techniques.

Although she had never seen snow before moving to Europe, she learned to ski and became a lifelong skier as well as tennis player.

While living in Europe, Elizabeth started importing and selling English antique furniture. This led to a successful career in interior design that continued when the family moved to Chicago and, in 1991, to New York.

In her later years, she doted on her four grandchildren, and loved spending time with friends, walking in Central Park, eating out, visiting art exhibits, and going to the theater, opera and Philharmonic. Elizabeth was an intrepid world traveler, but her happiest place of all was in the South of France, where she spent a month every summer, hosting a constant stream of family and friends.

She will be greatly missed and especially remembered for her wit, her strong opinions, her openness to new experiences, her fun-loving nature, and her impeccable sense of style. She was quick with a quip and retained her impressive vocabulary for years after her Alzheimer's diagnosis.

She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Roger Jahncke; her daughters Liz Carroll and Alison Jahncke; her son-in-law Richard Alberts; and her four grandsons, Jack Carroll, Henry Carroll, Oscar Strandlund, and Toby Strandlund.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011.