SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – Liz passed away at her home in August of 2022. Born in 1947 in New York City, her family moved to Saxtons River in 1949. She attended Saxtons River Elementary School and Bellows Falls High School. She graduated in 1965 from The American School of Paris and attended Middlebury College. Liz then lived in New York City, Burlington, Vt., and Honolulu, Hawaii, before returning to Saxtons River to raise her daughter.
After attending Norwich University’s accelerated program for teaching, she became a long-term substitute teacher in Cornish, N.H. schools and worked in special education at Bellows Falls Union High School.
Liz was entranced by nature and loved living where she could experience it daily. She enjoyed hikes through the forest and taught her daughter how to track the many animals that lived in the snowy hills and fields of the family farm. In the 1990s, she volunteered at a wild bird sanctuary, nursing injured birds back to health. She had a knack for soothing the injured birds and lived for the day when they were released back to the wild.
She was a gifted artist and writer. In the 1970s, she created the most extraordinary embroidered clothing as gifts for her loved ones. She embraced spirituality and studied religions of the world, most formatively the teachings of the Dali Lama and traveled to India to study Buddhism.
Many of her strongest friendships were forged in her youth, with those she was friends with from grade school through high school. She became like a second mother to several of her daughter’s high school friends, extending great kindness and support to them in times of need.
Liz struggled with mental illness for the last third of her life. This eventually affected her relationships and ability to connect with society. While she did withdraw from many loved ones in the last years of her life, she was never forgotten and was very much loved.
Liz is survived by her daughter, Rachael Campbell Chromec of Yellow Springs, Ohio; her siblings, Robert Campbell Jr. of Saxtons River, Averill Larsen of Saxtons River, Michael Campbell of East Boston (Erin O’Hearn), Sean Campbell (Joan) of Saxtons River, Peter Campbell of Greenfield, Mass., Margaret Lacoste (Don) of Wolfeboro, N.H., Charles Campbell (Julie) of Fairfield, Va., William Campbell (Gina)of Greenfield, Mass., Sarah Campbell of Saxtons River, and Matthew Campbell of Greenfield, Mass., as well as many nieces and nephews. Liz is predeceased by her parents, Bob and Beth Campbell of Saxtons River. Services will be private.
Donations to honor Liz may be made to National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) Vermont.