Elizabeth Foye
Elizabeth Foye, a longtime member of the Scribner Library staff, died September 19, 2007, in Saratoga Springs. She was 87.
Born in 1919, in East Lansing, Mich., Liz was the daughter of the late James and Dorothy
Stow Hassleman. Sports being one of Liz’s many interests, friends and family recall
that she would tell people she was born in the same hospital as Magic Johnson, her
favorite basketball player.
She spent her teen years in Middletown, Conn., where she met her future husband,
Howard R. Foye. She graduated from Smith College and later took graduate courses at
Eastman School of Music, majoring in music theory and organ. Liz and her Howard moved
to Saratoga Springs in 1947, when he accepted an appointment as pastor of the Presbyterian
(later Presbyterian New England) Church.
In 1961 Liz joined the staff of Skidmore’s Scribner Library, when it was part of the
old campus on Union Avenue. Library retiree Mary K. O’Donnell, who worked under Liz’s
supervision from 1972 to 1984 said, “Liz was a very good-hearted person. She helped
many students financially when they were in a bind. In 1979 I had the chance to go
to New York City to see Pope John Paul II at Yankee Stadium. I was not much of a traveler,
but Liz was very happy for me. She gave me a sweet card and enclosed some money for
me to enjoy myself.”
Liz retired from Skidmore in 1986. Her last assignment involved working in the nascent
special-collections area, where she was an archives assistant. O'Donnell recalled,
“Departments all over the campus brought pictures to us, and Liz painstakingly identified
each one of them. She did this for a long time.”
Liz volunteered with Meals on Wheels, delivering meals until the age of 82, for which
she received the Eckerd Drugs “Woman of the Year” award for the State of New York,
an honor presented at the State Capitol in Albany. She also volunteered at Saratoga
Hospital’s Medical Library and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. A lifelong music
lover, she attended numerous concerts and recitals, including those by the Colorado
Springs Philharmonic, of which her daughters Peg, Jan, and Susan were members.
Her husband having predeceased her, Liz was survived by daughters Elizabeth (Yasushi) Santo, Margaret (Robert) Schalit, Susan (Curt) Smith, Janet (Leon) Chappell, and Louisa Foye; son Howard (Pamela); eight grandchildren and four great-grands; and a brother-in-law.