Elizabeth Smith Abse, age 80, of Charlottesville, passed away with family members by her side on Wednesday, March 25, 2015.She was born Elizabeth Jean Smith on April 7, 1934 in Washington, D.C., where her father was special assistant to the Attorney General during Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. When she was six years old, her parents, originally from Asheville, moved with "Beejee" (her nickname) and her younger sister back to their home state of North Carolina, to the city of Hickory where her younger brother was soon to be born and she was to spend the rest of her childhood years.For high school, she attended St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Virginia, where she graduated as valedictorian of her class before attending Sweet Briar College. After a year at the Sorbonne in Paris and graduation from Sweet Briar, she worked for a time as a stewardess for Delta Airlines, before enrolling in the master's degree program in English at Duke University. While there she met and married Dr. David Wilfred Abse, a Welsh-Jewish psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at the University of North Carolina in nearby Chapel Hill. In 1962, the couple moved to Charlottesville where her husband was professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, and where they were to raise their two sons.She was a devoted wife and mother, while also involved in Charlottesville social life, intellectual pursuits, and various volunteer community service activities. Among other endeavors, she worked as assistant poetry editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review, participated in the founding of FOCUS Women's Resource Center, and was Secretary of the League of Women Voters of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. She also did service with the Charlottesville Electoral Board, and remained politically involved throughout her life, actively supporting a number of social and racial justice organizations, as well as Planned Parenthood.Elizabeth will always be remembered for her indefatigable zest for life, which shone in her strikingly beautiful blue eyes, as well as for her fierce independence of mind and generosity of spirit. While she very much enjoyed her privacy-- which she happily shared with her husband for as long as he lived -- she loved people and in all circumstances provided animating company for her many friends, and was well known for her ready eagerness to help others.Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband Wilfred (d. 2005); and is survived by her two sons, Edward Abse, anthropologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Nathan Abse, journalist and writer of Washington D.C.; her sister Christine Lowry of Rutherfordton, North Carolina; her brother Young M. Smith, Jr. of Hickory, North Carolina; her devoted daughter-in-law Julie Abse and much beloved grandson Aaron William Abse. And, of course, her Mexican cat, Chapulín.The family would like to thank the staffs of both Ascend Hospice and Symphony Manor of Richmond, especially Samuel Laryea and Grace Abbey, for their compassionate care and support during Elizabeth's final days.A memorial service will be held in Charlottesville at a time to be announced. [Daily Progress, Charlottesville, VA, June 16, 2015]