Mary Alice “Alix” Elam

Mary Alice “Alix” Elam, of Winchester, VA, widow of Edgar H. Elam, Jr., died peacefully on Monday, December 14, 2015, at age 86 from complications of cancer, in the loving company of family and friends.

Alix is remembered as a beloved wife, mother, sister, friend, and a dynamic woman of wide-ranging interests with a challenging intellect.

Alix was born in West Carrollton, Ohio, the daughter of the late Daniel and Claudia Sherk. She entered the University of Chicago at age 16 , graduated with a B.A. from Macalester College in Minnesota, and went on to graduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she met her husband Edgar H. Elam, Jr., of Nashville, TN. The couple married in December, 1950, and moved to Washington, D.C. where Alix worked as a teacher, and Ed began his career with the Federal Government, which would take them to Honduras, the Philippines and Nepal from 1953 to 1966.

Alix earned a Master’s Degree in 1971 from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and worked most of her career as a Social Worker at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. She spent her last 3 years in Federal Service working in Germany with the U.S. Army until her retirement in 1992, and post-retirement as a Social Worker and Bereavement Counselor with Calvert Hospice in MD.

Alix loved her family, loved animals and had many domestic hobbies and interests that contributed to beautiful and lively homes in the many locations they lived. Very involved in the community, she immersed herself in local cultures when abroad, and in the US, with choir, the League of Women Voters, Ruritan, and the Vizsla dog club, among others.

Surviving her are sons, Christopher Elam (Sandy Vartorella) of Durham, NC; Jefferson Elam (Mirna) of Hamilton, VA; Peter Elam (Anne De Santis) of Silver Spring, MD and daughter Erica Elam (Bruce Simms) of Ashburn, VA., grandchildren, Carrie Plumb, Kristen Mironenko, Courtney Elam, Brian Simms, Lindsey Elam, Jourdan Elam, Mandy Elam, Cole Elam, and Jillian Simms, and great grandchildren, Emma, Sophie, Brynn, Max, Drew, Logan, Leila, and her dachshund dog, Sky.

Services for Alix will be held at Westminster Canterbury in Winchester, VA on January 16 at 1:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be to your local Humane Society or Animal Shelter.