Elizabeth W. Kaplan, age 69, died from lung and brain cancer at her home in Annandale, Virginia on July 23, 2012.
Elizabeth W. Kaplan
Elizabeth W. Kaplan, age 69, died from lung and brain cancer at her home in Annandale, Virginia on July 23, 2012.
She is survived by her husband of 43 years, Sherwin S. Kaplan.
Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on January 2, 1943, she was raised and went to High School in Grand Forks. She was the daughter of Robert A. and Mary Ellen Caldwell who both taught at the University of North Dakota until their retirement. Beth received her BA and Master's degrees from the University of Chicago and a PhD in French literature from the University of Indiana. She taught French for several years at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. In 1974, she and her husband, Sherwin, relocated to Northern Virginia and Elizabeth taught French at Yeshiva High School in Bethesda and was later chief copy editor for the CATO Institute in Washington, DC until illness forced her retirement. In addition to her teaching and editing experience, she was an avid photographer and longtime member of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society.
There will be a Memorial Service at 10:00 am on August 2, at St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 6800 Columbia Pike in Annandale, Virginia and her remains will be interred with her parents in Grand Forks.
Wayne Grantham
I met Beth at West School when we were in third grade. I was drawn to her and after a silly third grade prank, we became friends. Sometimes we went to her home after school and played or read together. In high school, we dated a little but I began to feel inferior becaus she was so much smarter than I. She was into academics; I was into fun. I lost track of her when she went to university and I joined the Navy.
In the many years since, I thought of her often, sometimes even trying to find her via the internet. I found her only by finding her obituary in the Herald. Believe me, I cried. I still think of her often, but alas. too late. I found out she worked for CATO, an organization I revere deeply. All that, like many other things, is in the past. She's dead, and I'm old. I wonder what might have been.