Elizabeth Case was a nonstop volunteer — giving time to the homebound, to Scouts, the historical society, the United Way and a theater organization.
Case, who died at 86 on Jan. 27, also took in 14 exchange students and at least four homeless students. She did research on historical figures and attended football and basketball games at Colorado State University for 65 years.
Case had won two battles with cancer before dying from a brain hemorrhage, said her daughter, Laurie Warren of Fort Collins.
“She would have put the Energizer Bunny to shame,” said Wayne Sundberg, a friend in the Pioneer Association, a historical group.
“I think she felt it was her obligation to give back to the community, but she never took the time to sit down and explain why” she did so much, he said.
Case set a local record for the number of years she delivered for Meals on Wheels: 38.
For her work, she was honored by CSU and the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber named her Community Builder of the Year, and CSU named her Honored Alum of the Year in 2000.
Case was invited to the White House twice while Lyndon B. Johnson was president for her work on the Governor’s Committee on the White House Conference on Children.
“She thrived on interaction with other people,” Warren said.
Case was an amateur historian, researching those who were buried in local cemeteries and people for whom local schools were named.
When someone was introduced, it wasn’t unusual for Case to begin rattling off the person’s relatives and family history.
“The person would usually say, ‘You know more about me and my family than I do,’ ” Warren said.
Elizabeth Marion Bradley was born June 24, 1921, in Brooklyn, Iowa, and moved with her family to Littleton when she was 8.
She met Stewart Case while they were students at CSU. They married on June 24, 1942. He died in 1990.
In addition to Warren, she is survived by another daughter, Lizbeth Denkers, of Fort Collins; two sons, Greg Case, of Aurora, and Gary Case, of Rifle; two brothers, Bill Bradley, of Potsdam, N.Y., and Whitney Bradley, of Casper, Wyo.; one sister, Joan Brown, of Littleton; eight grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
