Elizabeth “Libby” Stewart Hatch Ellis was born on May 5, 1931, in New Rochelle, New York, and passed away on September 21, 2024, in Estes Park, Colorado, surrounded by her loving family. She was 93. Libby was a resident of Nederland, Colorado, from 1997-2015.
Libby is survived by her husband of 55 years, Robert “Bob” Ellis, and her three children: Laura MacAlister Brown (Rob Ramey), John Summerhayes Brown (Gervaise) and Tobi Ellis Summerhayes (Kyle Young). She is also survived by four adoring granddaughters: Sarah Brown, Eva Ramey, Anika Ramey, and Elissa Brown. Her close-knit family of nieces, nephews, cousins, grandnieces and grandnephews survive her as well. She was predeceased by her two sisters, Rosamond Hatch Butler and Nancy Hatch Beekman. Libby was previously married (1954-1966) to MacAlister Brown, who died in 2016.
Libby was one of triplets and she and her sisters grew up in Schenectady, New York. The triplets’ father, T. Alden Hatch, died in 1945 when the girls were 14. They were subsequently raised by their mother, Rosamond S. Hatch, and their maternal grandparents Marion and Harry Summerhayes Sr.
In the 1930s the triplets’ grandparents and relatives had the good fortune to acquire a private island on Lake George, New York. Here they built a rustic summer camp and introduced the girls to the outdoor activities they grew to love. The island was a fundamental part of the triplets’ upbringing and remains a touchstone and a haven for successive generations of family that have the privilege to call it home.
Libby attended Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard University) in Cambridge Massachusetts, graduating in 1952 with a BA degree in Art History. She was an active member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and enjoyed many outings to rock climb, hike and ski, especially Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington. Coming from a family of avid outdoor enthusiasts, Libby was eager to spend a good portion of her free time first in the White Mountains and Adirondacks, and later in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. Cross-country and telemark skiing were her favorite winter pastimes and she continued to trace the mountainsides with her graceful turns until the age of 87. Every winter for 15 years, she and Bob would ski to one of the 10th Mountain Division huts in Colorado’s back-country, making her last hut trip at age 82.
Libby’s passion for mountains fed a lifelong devotion to sketching, drawing and painting scenes in nature that inspired her. She was an avid bird-watcher, knew the wildflowers, read natural history books, kept up on environmental issues, and donated to conservation organizations. She enjoyed nothing more than a day outside with her sketchbook and colored pencils, most often on a hike. She took art classes over the years and became quite accomplished, displaying her works in local shows and in her home. She filled numerous sketchbooks over 45 years, and collaborated with Bob in producing a printed version of her best Colorado work in 2022. For many years she designed the annual Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club t-shirts, as well as greeting cards of mountain scenes. Libby’s art was never for sale, it was always very personal, an expression of her skills at observation and her deep love of nature.
In all the places she lived – Hanover, New Hampshire, Washington DC, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Schenectady, New York, Sudbury, Massachusetts, Woodland Park, Nederland, and Estes Park, Colorado - Libby devoted herself not only to her family and her art, but also to her dogs, of which she had many (10 over 60 years.) She worked for a time at the Woodland Park Veterinary Clinic, and adopted several rescue dogs. She is survived by Niko, her devoted samoyed/husky mix.
Along with visits to national parks in the lower 48, Libby’s travels also included the Galapagos, Svalbard, Costa Rica, Alaska, Baja, and Arizona. The Arizona trip, with her sisters and a cousin, traced the legacy of their great-grandmother, Martha Summerhayes, whose memoir Vanished Arizona describes Army life in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800s.
Music, books, gardening, crossword puzzles and games were some of Libby’s other joys. She took up the mandolin at age 75, learning to play and sing alongside her husband Bob at their annual music camps. While living in Nederland, Colorado, she volunteered at the local library and joined a book club. She was also a member of a couple of creative writing groups in Nederland and Boulder. Board games like Scrabble and Azul were a given at any social gathering in the Ellis house, with Libby often winning, even in her very senior years.
Libby was a private person, quiet and thoughtful. Although her first marriage to Mac Brown didn’t last, Libby later found Bob, the mate she was meant for. When they met, Libby was a 38-year-old divorcee with two children, and Bob was a 23-year-old math and engineering geek and Conscientious Objector (during the Vietnam War.) They were a very unlikely couple, but they hit it off, and the 15 year age difference didn’t stop them from marrying in 1969 in a Quaker ceremony. Their daughter Tobi (born Mary Elizabeth Ellis) arrived three years later. None of Libby’s family or friends thought such a marriage would last, but they proved everyone wrong. Libby taught Bob how to ski and backpack, they ventured up mountain trails together as often as they could, and their loving and devoted marriage lasted 55 years, until death did them part.
Libby was a much beloved matriarch of her large family, and will be dearly missed.
