Elaine Bright died after a brief stay in hospice in
Fishersville, Virginia, at age 97.
Elaine was part of the Cadet Nurse Corps during WWII. As a girl, she saw a role model in the figure and spirit of Emilia Earheart. In an era with few professional avenues for women, however, she occupied two of them, spending much of her working life in nursing and medicine, and also as an instructor.
Elaine was born in
Youngstown, Ohio, to Nellie and Stanley Boyd. Her mother died of cancer at 36; little is known about her father. At 14 she left home to escape an abusive relationship with a stepfather, and was adopted by Helen Brooker, a teacher. Just after WWII, in 1947, Elaine met Richard H. (Dick) Bright at Baldwin Wallace College in the Cleveland suburb of
Berea, Ohio. Their first encounter was in a religion course; not being religiously observant, both found this to be ironically humorous. Elaine and Dick, a physician, married in 1950. They had two sons; Rick (1959), and Paul (1962). Elaine and Dick lived in northeast Ohio until 1981, when they moved to Hilton Head Island. They moved again, from South Carolina to Virginia in 2000, and in 2002 settled in Fishersville, near Staunton.
Elaine made acquaintances readily wherever she lived, and the couple attracted and enjoyed a diversity of people regardless of age. As the two grew older, neighbors arrived unbidden to shovel snow or assist with tasks. She was an inveterate chronicler of friends' lives, and could recite which friend from thirty years ago was living where, and what their children or grandchildren were up to. Elaine embodied a level of irrepressible energy that seemed to only increase until very late in life. Even after a series of medical setbacks beginning in 2006, her vitality and sheer force of will managed to conceal most of their effects. Ten days before her death she was still able to dance with her physical therapist.
Her younger sister, Pat Stanzel, died 2021. In addition to her husband, Elaine is survived by her two sons, three grandsons; Craig, Austin, and Jay, and three great-grandchildren; Jayden, Vincent, and Chloe.