Remembering Mary Elizabeth Strange

Mary Elizabeth Strange, 60, of Purcellville, passed away Sunday, Dec. 30, after a brief illness. She was born in Kerrville, TX in 1961 to James and Carolyn Strange. 

Elizabeth grew up in Texas, New Jersey, and Florida. She received a Bachelor of Arts from New College of Florida, where she majored in Classics and Religious Studies. While in college she worked as a dispatcher for the campus police.  She also met her future husband at afternoon teas held by her Classics professor. She married Christopher Bertaut on May 8, 1990. 

Elizabeth took pride in working as a technical and proposal writer in the high-tech field, for more than 15 years.  

Elizabeth and Christopher adopted and raised two wonderful sons, James and Carl. 

She loved travel, archeology, waterfalls, and talking with everyone she met. She loved to talk about politics, but never made it a precondition to friendship. She loved to read fiction, philosophy, and biographies. She was a valued part of many shared communities of interest, located both near and far.  

She is survived by her mother, Carolyn Midkiff Strange of Tampa, FL, her sisters, Joanna Strange of New York City, and Katherine Burke of Thousand Oaks, CA, and her loving husband of 31 years, Christopher. 

She will be sadly missed by relatives, friends, and neighbors. Her wonderful spirit, joys, mischievous sense of humor, love of nature, and talents were celebrated at memorial services held in her family church in Tampa, FL on Jan. 3, and in her hometown of Purcellville at the Carver Center on Jan. 22.