![[Yearbook Photo]](http://www.mtholyoke.com/pcsite/ladies/b/ebailey.jpeg)
Elizabeth Karges Bailey 1958 (Mrs. Rolf H Benzinger)
Liz passed away in 2014. She created the following summary of her life for her fiftieth college reunion:
Who am I in my seventies? Looking back I see that the themes of my life now are variations on those of 50 years ago: being physically active, loving travel, playing music, and looking for deeper meaning in life. I enjoy being physically active and my favorite venue for this activity is the world of nature. A hike or a walk in the woods was and is a spiritual experience for me. For over 20 years I was a member of National Ski Patrol. My "newest" sport, begun 15 years ago, is tai chi. My first major travel experience was in 1953, when I spent a summer in Berlin as an American Field Service exchange student. In 1960 I returned to Germany to learn to speak the language well. To support myself I began teaching English as a foreign language; I did this in Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland, not coincidentally all places where I could ski in the Alps. Soon I had found my career, teaching foreign languages; after we moved to Virginia in 1967, I became a high school teacher of German and French, a job which I continued doing for the next 20+ years. I spent 1988-89 in Berlin as a Fulbright exchange teacher, which led me to begin a student exchange program, my most rewarding teaching experience.Music has always been an important part of my life; wherever I've lived, I've sung in choirs. Shortly before I retired, I decided I wanted to play chamber music. I began cello lessons, not realizing how incredibly difficult it is to get a beautiful sound out of a string with a bow. But I'm hooked on cello and take lessons regularly, as well as attending several chamber music camps every summer. The search for meaning has landed me in a Unitarian church. Once I visited it, I realized that this was home for me; my church community is my extended family. But my greatest joy at age 72, a pure joy surpassing even that of parenthood, is visiting my three grandchildren: a grandson in San Francisco and two grandaughters in Bellevue, WA. My travel now is mostly cross-country from Virginia to the west coast as I visit them 3-4 times a year. They need to be well acquainted with their Oma.