Obituary of Elizabeth Kistler

On Friday, October 22, 2010 at 8:45 on the morning, Elizabeth Kistler fell asleep in the Lord after a long battle with lung cancer. (NO - she did not smoke, and neither did her husband or anyone else living in her house). Her cancer was diagnosed in June of 2001, but was clearly visible on her 1999 X-rays and not identified at that time. She underwent a right lobectomy in 2001, and appeared cancer-free until November of 2004. She underwent a long series of chemo and radiation therapy, that only ended in August 2010 when she had 3 severe seizures, and fell out of bed at the hospital traumatizing her head. After a month at UW-Harborview Hospital, and several weeks at Panorama City, she came home under hospice care.Elizabeth was born in Clinton Ohio on June 17, 1950, the oldest of 6 (Bill, Barbara, Jini, Margaret and Nancy) and graduated from Knox Catholic High School in Knoxville Tennessee in 1968. In 1972 she graduated from Ohio Dominican College with a BA in social services, and again in 1985 from the University of Maryland (Keflavik Iceland campus) with a BA in Computer Sciences. On July 15, 1978 she married H. William (Bill) Safford in Portland and helped him raise his 8 year old daughter from a previous marriage. Elizabeth and Bill had two more daughters while moving from Bremerton to San Diego to Pittsburg, to Keflavik, and back to Seattle when Bill retired from the Navy. Her first job after college was with the Dayton Ohio Welfare Department. Then she moved to Bremerton and worked at a halfway house before being hired by DSHS as a casework intake worker. After marriage and moving to San Diego she worked as a product survey taker, and then was hired by the Equitable Insurance company in subrogation. While in Iceland she ran the largest English-language bookstore in the country, and almost doubled sales by special ordering books rather than using the normal "split". Upon return to Washington, She worked for Group Health in Seattle for a couple of years, then (briefly) as a Medical Compensation Adjudicator for DSHS before being hired by L&I in the GA building. She spent many years in Unit B, and then was hired as supervisor of Unit X where she worked until her medical retirement. Elizabeth was active in several writer's groups and critique groups, and has written 3 books (unpublished, but that may change). She was active in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and attended numerous Science Fiction Conventions, Filk Conventions, and writer's conventions, as well as Victorian and Civil War reenactments, More than once she showed up at high schools and middle schools with clothing, armour and cooking implements to give lessons on life in the middle ages as not taught by the history book. She hosted 3 recording sessions for acoustical music in her living room, that resulted in 5 CDs being cut for commercial sale. She also served as an Instructor for Capitol Battalion, US Naval Sea Cadet Corps. Elizabeth is preceded in death by both her parents and by her step-daughter, Constance. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughters Marguerite JoAnne and Teresa Lorraine. You may leave memories and condolences for the family by clicking on "View Guestbook" below.