“I didn’t consider public service a duty; I enjoyed it too much,” but Elizabeth said in a 2008 interview she “had to realize the importance in saying ‘No!’ I had to learn to say it to a lot of things.”Overall, she noted of her long career of community activism, “I just thought what I did was natural,” although Elizabeth never seemed to realize that what she did indeed was second nature to her. “Hers was a generation that felt it was an obligation” to serve others, said Elizabeth’s daughter Betsy Chess.A benchmark of Elizabeth, according to Betsy, was “Mother’s absolutely impeccable fairness, whether it be between the three of us” children or a complete stranger. “She was absolutely fair and impartial, and if justice had to come down” it did, but never with a harsh word.Elizabeth’s son John Blanchard agreed: “I had a strange rebellious streak in the 1960s” and attended a family function wearing hippie attire. “She was aghast in her heart, I know she was, but Mother didn’t say ‘boo’... she said the important thing is you’re here. The support and encouragement she gave all three of her children was just constant.”Described by Betsy as a “brainiac” and great world traveler, home and its history meant much to Elizabeth. “She was renowned for if you ask a question you better be prepared for the answer,” as Elizabeth was a recognized “wealth of community history. Her history was not arid, it was people... and she knew them all.”Elizabeth was also very modest about her many honors and recognitions, often wondering why she was chosen for accolades, an attitude, Betsy said, “was very genuine.... But she felt it was an obligation” to better the community on the diverse groups she served.Elizabeth, said Justice Edwin “Ed” Beach, a friend for more than 58 years, “was a wonderful lady, kind and nice with no pretensions and a friend to many, many people.” When Ed and his late wife Janet created the Blanchard Community Library Endowment Fund, Elizabeth was one of the first founders.“What impressed me was her genuiness and her honest to goodness pleasantness.... She always had smile for everybody, had a very sharp intellect and was a good counsel” that “was very logical and supportive when it was an idea or cause that should be supported.”Elizabeth took her volunteerism seriously, and Ed said he “always listened intently to what she had to say and respected her. She had a good mind, and if something was kind of flakey she spoke up and cautioned against although she would never browbeat about it. And many times she worked in the background, was a great advisor and never a downer.”“She had real class,” said Cathy Barringer, a friend for more than 60 years who described Elizabeth as “like a sister to me.... Carl [Barringer] said Elizabeth was a true lady. She was that rare combination of being beautiful and intelligent with a wonderful sense of humor and fun.”“You always,” noted Ed Beach, “felt comfortable around Elizabeth.”After Eliot’s untimely death in 1965, Elizabeth married Charles Neal in 1970, who passed in 1974.Betsy wrote of her mother: “Elizabeth’s motto might well be the one Interface chose as the theme of its tribute dinner honoring her - ‘Light tomorrow with today.’ Her own family is proof of her success. In July she was surrounded by 40 family members who shared memories of everything from her considered and impartial wisdom, to her rose garden, to her ever-full cookie jar. Everyone who knew Elizabeth Munger Blanchard treasured the experience of her wit, her wisdom and her unfailing graciousness. We will not see the like of her again.”A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Paula at 11 a.m., Saturday, October 3, 2009. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Santa Paula Art Museum, the Museum of Ventura County’s Farm Heritage Museum or Interface Children and Family Services.
Community activist Elizabeth Munger Blanchard dies at 92
October 02, 2009
Santa Paula News
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By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesFor a woman who loved local history and took quiet pride in generations of her and her late husband’s ancestors, there was no denying that Elizabeth Munger Blanchard was her own woman. And like those Mungers and Blanchards before her Elizabeth was a pioneer, but her quest centered on philanthropy and she blazed a wide trail of social service and good works that led her to be one of the most honored women in Santa Paula history.Elizabeth died at her home on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. She was 92 years old. A native of Fillmore, Elizabeth Munger was born March 18, 1917 to John Pinkerton Munger and Ella Wileman Munger.“Oh, the Blanchards were latecomers compared to the Mungers,” Elizabeth said with a twinkle in her eye during her last interview when she was honored as the 2008 Citrus Festival Grand Marshal. Presented with a family history, Elizabeth noted, “It’s taken me 91 years to find out my own family had a history.” Elizabeth created her history through decades of unselfish giving.The Mungers, including her older brother John, moved to Santa Paula when Elizabeth was 11 years old. Beautiful, vivacious and brilliant, Elizabeth’s activism surfaced early: At Santa Paula High School, Elizabeth (Class of 1933) served as student body vice president, editor of “El Solano” yearbook and “The Cardinal” newspaper, was secretary of her sophomore class, and the vice president of Girls League, in addition to being a member of the California Scholarship Federation.Following graduation Elizabeth studied at Holmby College in Los Angeles for two years, and then returned to Santa Paula to take a position at the Security Pacific Bank. The job lasted about two years: in 1937, Elizabeth married Eliot McClelland Blanchard, grandson of Santa Paula founder Nathan Weston Blanchard.Then the couple attended Stanford University, Eliot to complete his law degree and Elizabeth to earn tripleheader Bachelor of Arts degrees in journalism, economics and history. The pair settled in Beverly Hills, where Eliot’s fledging law career was soon interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Eliot joined the Navy and served in the Pacific.After the war, in 1946, the couple returned to Santa Paula, where Eliot managed the agricultural lands of Samuel Edwards Associates, later merged with Limoneira Company. The couple had three children, Jim, John and Betsy, and Elizabeth focused on raising her children and becoming involved in their activities, from Cub Scout den mother and Blue Bird troop leader to being a progressive religious teacher at First United Methodist Church.Outside the home - where roses sat on almost every table and cookies were readily available in a seemingly bottomless jar - Elizabeth became deeply involved in community service. Elizabeth’s activism was modeled after her mother’s interests. “Community service was pretty much second nature to me,” she noted in a 2008 interview.When asked in the 1960s to join the county Juvenile Justice Commission, “It opened the door to me.... It was the big thing that propelled me further into public service,” and Elizabeth stayed with the commission for 22 years.Her community interests were varied. She served 17 years on both the Santa Paula Elementary School District and Santa Paula Union High School Boards of Trustees, was active with the Santa Paula Assistance Association, and the Assistance League of Ventura County and its Las Patronas Auxiliary, which she chaired.Elizabeth, who had a finely tuned sense of right and wrong and a gentle but no-nonsense attitude, also served on the Ventura County Grand Jury as foreperson.Her love of fine art and beautiful things led to her serving as president of the Board of Directors of the Museum of Ventura County and service as a museum docent for many years. Her love of history and local lore was also reflected by her regular docent duties at the Santa Paula California Union Oil Museum.She was for many years the only woman on the Museum of Ventura County’s Farm Heritage Museum, an effort now being finalized with the renovation of The Mill to house the unique collection and celebrate agricultural and its history.A prolific reader, Elizabeth was a Blanchard Community Library commissioner for many years, served the SPUHS Endowment Foundation, and was a trustee for First United Methodist Church.Selected Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1983, she was also honored by Caregivers in 1991, and in 1999 was the focus of the Interface Children Family Services Tribute Dinner, which established an annual scholarship in her name. She was lauded in 2000 by the SPUHS Alumni Association, and in 2005 Elizabeth was honored by the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley and a scholarship established in her name.
