Obituaries

Obituary: Elizabeth Desaulniers

Memorial service to be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, at the East Sandwich Quaker Meeting House

Elizabeth F. (Berghorn) Desaulniers, of Sandwich died Aug. 13 at age 80, after a long illness.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, she was the daughter of the late Henry Berghorn and Helen Garrity Berghorn.

As a child she moved often, living in Kansas, Missouri, California, Utah and Arizona. She graduated from Washington University in 1953, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and attended two years of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania before marrying Charles W. Desaulniers, a research chemist, in 1955, and starting a family.

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They were longtime residents of Franklin and active members of the community. She served as a Girl Scout leader for many years and spent summers working at and directing Girl Scout camps. From 1972 to 1994 she worked at the Plymouth Bay Girl Scout Council as a director of volunteer services for Norton, Franklin, Wrentham, Norfolk, Mansfield, Attleboro and North Attleboro, recruiting and training leaders for countless troops. She believed strongly in the value of Girl Scouting and worked hard to provide area girls with the opportunity to be scouts.

She was a member and deacon of the Franklin Federated Church. She served on the Franklin Charter Commission and was a member of the League of Women Voters. She and her husband sang for many years with the Neponset Choral Society.

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In 1994 she and her husband retired to Sandwich where she enjoyed gardening and participating in the Great Decisions discussion group. She served on the Sandwich Charter Commission and, in 2000, she helped to found the Sandwich Newcomers Club, which began with a gathering of 30 people and is now a thriving community organization. In Sandwich, she continued to pursue her love of the environment by serving for many years on the Sandwich Conservation Commission. She was a member of the Sandwich Quaker Meeting.

Elizabeth and her husband shared a love of music, science and nature, and they enjoyed bird watching and star gazing.

Her husband died in 1997. 

Elizabeth is survived by her three daughters and their spouses, Lani Desaulniers and John Clement of Albuquerque, NM, Claire and Ralph Hruban, of Baltimore, MD and Michelle and Tom Schillinger, of Cranston, RI; her seven grandchildren Amy and Alex Clement, Zoe, Emily and Carolyn Hruban and David and Helena Schillinger.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, at the East Sandwich Quaker Meeting House, 6 Quaker Road, Sandwich. Gifts in her memory may be made to the Mass Audubon Development Office, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln, MA 01773.


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