Elizabeth Redshaw, 99, died April 5, 2018, at her home in St. Anthony Park. Born nearly 100 years ago on June 18, 1918, in Springfield, Mass., she was the daughter of Thomas Stevenson Dillon and Marian Storm Dillon. She spent an idyllic childhood in Brookfield and her schooldays in Athol, Mass.
She attended Kimball Union Academy and the University of New Hampshire and earned a degree in psychiatric social work.
After a short courtship, she married Lincoln L. Redshaw of Lynn, Mass., in 1942. They made their home in the seacoast town of Marblehead, Mass., where they raised their sons and restored a 1760s “saltbox” house.
In the early 1950s, Elizabeth and her husband lived a year in London, England. In the late 1960s they lived awhile in Krefeld, Germany. She moved with her husband to Decatur, Ill., where she served in the Symphony Guild and oversaw the restoration of the Oglesby Mansion. They retired to Portsmouth, N.H., where they restored a Federal-style house in the Strawberry Banke historic district.
Well-known for her expert knowledge of American antiques, Elizabeth was equally well-known for her smart tongue, her fondness for Old Fashioneds and her wry sense of American life.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her sisters, twins Harriet and Eleanor, and her beloved husband, Lincoln. She is survived by her two sons, Thomas, of St. Paul, and Frederick, of Baxter, Minn., and her granddaughter, Tonya Elizabeth Redshaw, of Minneapolis. She will be sorely missed by all whom she loved and befriended in this life.
