Pioneer spirit still drives Liz Case
By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News
Elizabeth "Liz" Case has played an important part in preserving the past,
but she is firmly rooted in the here-and-now.
On the verge of turning 85, she still delivers Meals on Wheels as she has
for 36 years, attends every Colorado State University football and basketball
game and is preparing for a trip to Germany this summer. There she will
help celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of the first international
student she and her late husband, Stew, hosted in their home.
What drives this dynamo and her countless community service contributions?
"Part of it is I didn't say 'no,'" she explains. "I like to be involved.
I like to be noticed. I like to know all about people."
The Fort Collins Pioneer Association recently honored Case with the Pioneer
of the Year Award for those many contributions and her commitment to preserving
Fort Collins' history.
Born in Iowa, her family in 1929 moved to Littleton. She came to Fort Collins
as a student at what was then called Colorado State College. There she
met Stew, himself the grandson of a pioneer Larimer educator who arrived
in 1886.
They both were active in the Independent Students Association and the drama
club, feeding Liz's flair for the dramatic that would lead her to start
a children's theater and perform in the Town and Gown Theater. A born performer,
she also loves singing and has done so for a decade with the Sunshine Singers
and twice that long with the Methodist church choir.
An ROTC officer, Stew had been called to duty when she graduated in 1942
and they were married. Stew was discharged in 1946, and the family returned
to Fort Collins where Stew accepted a recreation specialist position with
the Cooperative Extension Service. Housing was scarce, and they had to
settle for a rough beet workers' shack without running water next to the
railroad tracks on Harmony Road.
Two years later they moved to Indiana, where Stew attended graduate school.
The family's short-lived return to Fort Collins in June 1951 was interrupted
when Stew's Army Reserve unit was called to active duty in Korea. The Cases
in 1953 returned, bought their first home at 900 Smith St. and settled
in for good.
It was then that Liz launched into a life of volunteering, first as a Cub
Scout den mother, Brownie leader and president of the local Girl Scout
Council. She is still in contact with some of the now-grandmothers who
were once girls in the scouting program she established at Holy Family
School.
Then she got involved with the host-family program providing support for
international students at CSU. That in turn led the Cases to welcoming
18 international students to live in their home over the years. She still
maintains contact with many of them.
"Once we got those students, they were ours forever," she said.
The list goes on: She served as hostess of the CSU faculty club for 30
years, headed the Pioneer Society and was active in the historical society,
opened her showplace corner lot for the garden tour three times, and continues
to organize an annual reunion of those graduating from Fort Collins High
School 50 years or more ago.
That's only a small part. Given Liz's inability to say 'no,' there will
certainly be more. So stay tuned.
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