By the time Elizabeth Hough Sechrist was 8 years old, she had such an urge to write that she even filled her six sisters' school copybooks with stories.
She said she felt the stories "coming out of her, and she had to write them," said her niece, Barbara Widdell.
The urge never left and Mrs. Sechrist did, indeed, become a writer. Through the years, she wrote more than 30 children's books, filling them with stories about holidays and brotherhood, mysteries and ghosts.
Mrs. Sechrist, 88, died Tuesday at Broomall Presbyterian Home, where she had lived for the last six years. Before that she lived in Media and in York.
Born in Media, Mrs. Sechrist was a graduate of Carnegie School of Library Science, Class of 1924. She served as a children's librarian in Pittsburgh and in Bethlehem before turning exclusively to writing.
Widdell said her aunt was a wonderful storyteller.
Hearing her, "children would be spellbound - as I was," she said. She said she heard her aunt's stories while Mrs. Sechrist lived with her family in Pittsburgh while attending Carnegie.
Much of Mrs. Sechrist's writing was done between 1930 and 1968 on Spring Meadows Farm in York, where she and her husband, Walter L., raised sheep. She also bred cocker spaniels as a hobby, her niece said. She moved back to Media after her husband died in 1968.
Although Mrs. Sechrist was a prolific writer and her books remained popular for decades, her name is not quickly recognized.
But the topics are. She wrote about Christmas around the world in Christmas Everywhere, and about brotherhood in It's Time for Brotherhood. Children reached for her books when they needed a poem to recite or a story about Arbor Day.
Some of her books were translated into as many as five languages, printed in Braille and spoken on tape for children on Talking Books for the Blind.
Her niece recalled what a pleasant surprise it had been to discover her aunt's books on Christmas and on brotherhood translated into French and on the shelves in Switzerland when she was there.
Mrs. Sechrist became an authority on holiday customs and was a contributing editor to the World Book, Britannica Junior and Compton's encyclopedias.
According to Lois Hartman, a librarian in the Central Library Children's Department, Mrs. Sechrist's books have remained popular because "collections of stories on holidays are always useful."
She said some of Mrs. Sechrist's books are still on the shelves, though all but one - Merry Meet Again, a collection of poems for children to recite - are out of print.
Widdell said her aunt never wrote books for adults. "One of the reasons she was interested in doing children's work was because she couldn't have children of her own," she said.
When she first moved into the nursing home in Broomall and was still healthy, Mrs. Sechrist continued to write and to entertain.
She put together a newsletter for the home and published some of her own stories in that. And when Christmas or Easter or other holidays rolled around, she would tell residents the stories she had told the children.
She was a member of Media Presbyterian Church and the church's Circle Group.
She is survived by a sister, Mary I. Huff, and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Media Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Avenue, Media. Interment will be private.
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Friday, February 1, 1991
She said she felt the stories "coming out of her, and she had to write them," said her niece, Barbara Widdell.
The urge never left and Mrs. Sechrist did, indeed, become a writer. Through the years, she wrote more than 30 children's books, filling them with stories about holidays and brotherhood, mysteries and ghosts.
Mrs. Sechrist, 88, died Tuesday at Broomall Presbyterian Home, where she had lived for the last six years. Before that she lived in Media and in York.
Born in Media, Mrs. Sechrist was a graduate of Carnegie School of Library Science, Class of 1924. She served as a children's librarian in Pittsburgh and in Bethlehem before turning exclusively to writing.
Widdell said her aunt was a wonderful storyteller.
Hearing her, "children would be spellbound - as I was," she said. She said she heard her aunt's stories while Mrs. Sechrist lived with her family in Pittsburgh while attending Carnegie.
Much of Mrs. Sechrist's writing was done between 1930 and 1968 on Spring Meadows Farm in York, where she and her husband, Walter L., raised sheep. She also bred cocker spaniels as a hobby, her niece said. She moved back to Media after her husband died in 1968.
Although Mrs. Sechrist was a prolific writer and her books remained popular for decades, her name is not quickly recognized.
But the topics are. She wrote about Christmas around the world in Christmas Everywhere, and about brotherhood in It's Time for Brotherhood. Children reached for her books when they needed a poem to recite or a story about Arbor Day.
Some of her books were translated into as many as five languages, printed in Braille and spoken on tape for children on Talking Books for the Blind.
Her niece recalled what a pleasant surprise it had been to discover her aunt's books on Christmas and on brotherhood translated into French and on the shelves in Switzerland when she was there.
Mrs. Sechrist became an authority on holiday customs and was a contributing editor to the World Book, Britannica Junior and Compton's encyclopedias.
According to Lois Hartman, a librarian in the Central Library Children's Department, Mrs. Sechrist's books have remained popular because "collections of stories on holidays are always useful."
She said some of Mrs. Sechrist's books are still on the shelves, though all but one - Merry Meet Again, a collection of poems for children to recite - are out of print.
Widdell said her aunt never wrote books for adults. "One of the reasons she was interested in doing children's work was because she couldn't have children of her own," she said.
When she first moved into the nursing home in Broomall and was still healthy, Mrs. Sechrist continued to write and to entertain.
She put together a newsletter for the home and published some of her own stories in that. And when Christmas or Easter or other holidays rolled around, she would tell residents the stories she had told the children.
She was a member of Media Presbyterian Church and the church's Circle Group.
She is survived by a sister, Mary I. Huff, and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Media Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Avenue, Media. Interment will be private.
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Friday, February 1, 1991
By the time Elizabeth Hough Sechrist was 8 years old, she had such an urge to write that she even filled her six sisters' school copybooks with stories.
She said she felt the stories "coming out of her, and she had to write them," said her niece, Barbara Widdell.
The urge never left and Mrs. Sechrist did, indeed, become a writer. Through the years, she wrote more than 30 children's books, filling them with stories about holidays and brotherhood, mysteries and ghosts.
Mrs. Sechrist, 88, died Tuesday at Broomall Presbyterian Home, where she had lived for the last six years. Before that she lived in Media and in York.
Born in Media, Mrs. Sechrist was a graduate of Carnegie School of Library Science, Class of 1924. She served as a children's librarian in Pittsburgh and in Bethlehem before turning exclusively to writing.
Widdell said her aunt was a wonderful storyteller.
Hearing her, "children would be spellbound - as I was," she said. She said she heard her aunt's stories while Mrs. Sechrist lived with her family in Pittsburgh while attending Carnegie.
Much of Mrs. Sechrist's writing was done between 1930 and 1968 on Spring Meadows Farm in York, where she and her husband, Walter L., raised sheep. She also bred cocker spaniels as a hobby, her niece said. She moved back to Media after her husband died in 1968.
Although Mrs. Sechrist was a prolific writer and her books remained popular for decades, her name is not quickly recognized.
But the topics are. She wrote about Christmas around the world in Christmas Everywhere, and about brotherhood in It's Time for Brotherhood. Children reached for her books when they needed a poem to recite or a story about Arbor Day.
Some of her books were translated into as many as five languages, printed in Braille and spoken on tape for children on Talking Books for the Blind.
Her niece recalled what a pleasant surprise it had been to discover her aunt's books on Christmas and on brotherhood translated into French and on the shelves in Switzerland when she was there.
Mrs. Sechrist became an authority on holiday customs and was a contributing editor to the World Book, Britannica Junior and Compton's encyclopedias.
According to Lois Hartman, a librarian in the Central Library Children's Department, Mrs. Sechrist's books have remained popular because "collections of stories on holidays are always useful."
She said some of Mrs. Sechrist's books are still on the shelves, though all but one - Merry Meet Again, a collection of poems for children to recite - are out of print.
Widdell said her aunt never wrote books for adults. "One of the reasons she was interested in doing children's work was because she couldn't have children of her own," she said.
When she first moved into the nursing home in Broomall and was still healthy, Mrs. Sechrist continued to write and to entertain.
She put together a newsletter for the home and published some of her own stories in that. And when Christmas or Easter or other holidays rolled around, she would tell residents the stories she had told the children.
She was a member of Media Presbyterian Church and the church's Circle Group.
She is survived by a sister, Mary I. Huff, and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Media Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Avenue, Media. Interment will be private.
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Friday, February 1, 1991
She said she felt the stories "coming out of her, and she had to write them," said her niece, Barbara Widdell.
The urge never left and Mrs. Sechrist did, indeed, become a writer. Through the years, she wrote more than 30 children's books, filling them with stories about holidays and brotherhood, mysteries and ghosts.
Mrs. Sechrist, 88, died Tuesday at Broomall Presbyterian Home, where she had lived for the last six years. Before that she lived in Media and in York.
Born in Media, Mrs. Sechrist was a graduate of Carnegie School of Library Science, Class of 1924. She served as a children's librarian in Pittsburgh and in Bethlehem before turning exclusively to writing.
Widdell said her aunt was a wonderful storyteller.
Hearing her, "children would be spellbound - as I was," she said. She said she heard her aunt's stories while Mrs. Sechrist lived with her family in Pittsburgh while attending Carnegie.
Much of Mrs. Sechrist's writing was done between 1930 and 1968 on Spring Meadows Farm in York, where she and her husband, Walter L., raised sheep. She also bred cocker spaniels as a hobby, her niece said. She moved back to Media after her husband died in 1968.
Although Mrs. Sechrist was a prolific writer and her books remained popular for decades, her name is not quickly recognized.
But the topics are. She wrote about Christmas around the world in Christmas Everywhere, and about brotherhood in It's Time for Brotherhood. Children reached for her books when they needed a poem to recite or a story about Arbor Day.
Some of her books were translated into as many as five languages, printed in Braille and spoken on tape for children on Talking Books for the Blind.
Her niece recalled what a pleasant surprise it had been to discover her aunt's books on Christmas and on brotherhood translated into French and on the shelves in Switzerland when she was there.
Mrs. Sechrist became an authority on holiday customs and was a contributing editor to the World Book, Britannica Junior and Compton's encyclopedias.
According to Lois Hartman, a librarian in the Central Library Children's Department, Mrs. Sechrist's books have remained popular because "collections of stories on holidays are always useful."
She said some of Mrs. Sechrist's books are still on the shelves, though all but one - Merry Meet Again, a collection of poems for children to recite - are out of print.
Widdell said her aunt never wrote books for adults. "One of the reasons she was interested in doing children's work was because she couldn't have children of her own," she said.
When she first moved into the nursing home in Broomall and was still healthy, Mrs. Sechrist continued to write and to entertain.
She put together a newsletter for the home and published some of her own stories in that. And when Christmas or Easter or other holidays rolled around, she would tell residents the stories she had told the children.
She was a member of Media Presbyterian Church and the church's Circle Group.
She is survived by a sister, Mary I. Huff, and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Media Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Avenue, Media. Interment will be private.
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Friday, February 1, 1991
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