Elodie King Vandevert

1930 - 2020

Elodie King Vandevert
August 29, 1930 - December 18, 2020
Edgewater, New Jersey - Elodie King Vandevert, a former long-time resident of Tacoma, died peacefully in her sleep at her residence in Edgewater, New Jersey at the age of 90 on December 18, 2020. She had suffered from ever worsening dementia in her later years.
In her more than 50 years living in Tacoma, Elodie was an activist and leader on issues of social justice and cultural affairs in the city. The great-grand daughter of an unapologetically Reconstructionist family in New Orleans, she was part of the effort that succeeded in recalling a mayor and several members of Tacoma's City Council as well as being instrumental in the opening of McCarver Elementary School as a racially balanced magnet school in the 1960's. She also worked to increase voter registration in the Hilltop community.
One of Elodie's great passions was the arts. She was a long-time supporter and volunteer at the Tacoma Art Museum, the Tacoma Symphony, and the Grand Cinema. She served as Chair of the Pierce County Arts Commission for several years. One of her proudest accomplishments was the founding of the Tacoma Actors Guild, "TAG", as it came to be known. She served as TAG's first board chair and saw TAG progress from renting the Temple Theatre for its first production, "Guys and Dolls", to its first home in the old St. Leo's School to a new building space of its own in what is now known as Tacoma's Theatre District.
For many, Elodie was an empathic teacher. She saw her students and her colleagues as people and drew out the stories of their lives. Under the auspices of the Episcopal Church, she taught summer Bible camps to impoverished children in Appalachia, where when asked what they had brought for lunch, the son of the local general store owner said proudly "a moon pie and a dope", luxuries most of the other children could only imagine. At various times, she taught Sunday church school at her Episcopal parish. She obtained a teaching certificate and taught English at Annie Wright School for many years. While she often despaired of the literacy of some of her students, she earned deep and lasting affection from them. A former student, working as a gate agent on the midnight shift at Sea-Tac, crying out "Oh, Mrs. Vandevert, how good to see you!" was typical of an encounter often repeated.
Twice, Mrs. Vandevert served as interim Headmistress at Annie Wright School. During one of those stints, there was concern over how several boarders from Japan were doing. They seemed to be suffering from more than normal homesickness and weren't eating well. After discussing their diet with the school's cook, she determined that they should be offered rice with their meals, instead of wheat-based bread or potatoes. The girls' recovery showed almost immediately.
Elodie had a tremendous, sometimes piercing, intellect and wit. She could read most people, discerning their motivations and the context for their actions. To her family, however, she sometimes directed more of the former and too little of the latter. She expected and even demanded much from her children, rightly reasoning that to them much had been given. This resulted in complicated, at times strained relationships, especially as her children grew into adulthood and moved away to form their own lives. Yet, each of them, in their own way, have lived by the values their mother instilled in them.
Elodie Vandevert is survived by her three children, Paul (Carrie) of Dearborn, MI, John of Tacoma, and Margaret King of Hackensack, NJ and four grandchildren. Elodie will be cremated. Plans for memorial services have yet to be made. Donations in memoriam may be made to a local arts or community organization.