Elizabeth Carnegie

A memorial mass was held at St. James Church on Saturday, June 21 for long-time Lakewood resident Elizabeth Carnegie. Ms. Carnegie, died on May 14 at age 84.

Ms. Carnegie graduated from the former Notre Dame Academy on Ansel Road in Cleveland and Ursuline College, and received a graduate degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

In 1947, at age 23, Ms. Carnegie embarked on a bold career, beginning as a State Department employee in General Douglas MacArthur's office in Allied-occupied Japan. She went on to assignments in Turkey, Egypt, and the Philippines. Ms. Carnegie reached the rank of assistant embassy attaché, the first American woman to attain that diplomatic rank.

Returning to the U.S., Ms. Carnegie became an expert on Ohio's 88 counties and county seats. From 1974 to 1999, she was a freelance reporter, recommending travel destinations for Ohio Magazine.

After retiring from the medical department of Union Carbide in 1989, she devoted much time to travel and to the New Citizens' Salute, a program for new U.S. citizens.

Ms. Carnegie was an active Catholic, who attended Cleveland ordinations for 32 consecutive years. She embraced interfaith and visited churches, shrines, synagogues, temples, and mosques. She met Mother Teresa of Calcutta in December 1991, and had a rapport with other faith leaders, including Coptic Pope Shenouda. In 1999, the travel editor of the New York Times said he did not know anyone who had visited as many county seats and holy places as Elizabeth Carnegie.

An ardent Franciscan all her life, Ms. Carnegie organized Our Lady of Angels Franciscan Jubilee in 1997. True to her Franciscan path, in 2002, after recovering from heart valve replacement and subsequent severe heart failure, Ms. Carnegie served nursing home seniors for 14 months. "The way of life for a Franciscan is to wait on others, and not just casually wait on others," she would say.

Ms. Carnegie is survived by her surrogate son, a brother, a niece, a nephew, three grandnieces, and two grandnephews.

Memorial donations may be made to Happy Days, a charity that celebrates the birthdays of chemotherapy patients.