Elizabeth Trimble (nee Langille)
c1912-September 26, 1994
Monday, October 10, 1994 Seattle
Elizabeth Langille Trimble, 82, `Old-Style Teacher,' Nature-Lover Carole Beers
The name Katharine Hepburn comes to mind when contemplating Elizabeth Langille Trimble.
Mrs. Trimble - a highly regarded teacher, athlete and nature-lover - had that same New England-ramrod posture and ethics.
Slim from daily swims at the Seattle Tennis Club, her hair swept up in a dramatic roll, she revered proper diction and grammar.
And although keen on politics, history and literature, she balanced her intellect with mountain hikes or children's picnics, serving the tots special treats on her finest china.
Her daughter, Cassandra Trimble of Seattle, said Mrs. Trimble even looked like Katharine Hepburn. Her husband knew Hepburn in the 1930s in New York. So when the actress visited Seattle, they all got together and took walks in the Arboretum.
Mrs. Trimble, disabled by a stroke, died Sept. 26 at 82.
"She had a series of hospice nurses," said Merideth Tall, one of her former fourth- and fifth-grade students at St. Nicholas Academy. "A New Age one said she hoped Mrs. Trimble had resolved all her issues. But I doubt Mrs. Trimble was the kind to have had issues!"
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where her father was a forestry consultant - he later surveyed and named Alaska's Tongass National Forest - she moved with the family to Hood River, Ore., as a child. Having earned a history degree at the University of Oregon, she taught history and modern dance.
"Always active in the out-of-doors," said her daughter, "in the '30s she was a member of the Nile River Yacht Club, the tongue-in- cheek name of a group of young Oregonians interested in skiing, mountaineering and conservation."
She married Webb Ware Trimble of Seattle in 1943 and went to Alaska to teach in the 1950s.
Those days Mrs. Trimble was fond of strapping on wood skis and hiking three miles up a mountain to ski down.
When she returned to Seattle, she taught at Saint Nicholas School from 1960 to 1970.
Tall said when they were studying trees, Mrs. Trimble marched the girls in neat rows up to Volunteer Park Conservatory. Other times, she led them on mountain hikes.
"She left us with strong values, and a lasting impression. She was an old-style teacher. After retirement, she taught adult literacy, and tutored at the Seattle Indian Center," Tall said.
Edith T. Rowe, former headmistress at Saint Nicholas School, said Mrs. Trimble "could always be counted on to keep her class in order yet know they were loved. She had them reading Shakespeare and acting it out in fourth and fifth grade, and they thought that was pretty great."
Mrs. Trimble is survived by her husband and daughter.
A service has been held. Remembrances may be sent to Friends of the Columbia Gorge, P.O. Box 40820, Portland, OR, 97240-0820, or to the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 98109, Seattle, WA, 98109.
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