Norris, Elizabeth Downe, 1914-2003

Elizabeth Downe was born on April 25, 1914 in White Plains, New York, to Albro Farwell and Alice Morse Downe. The family lived in White Plains, New York; Gardner, Massachusetts; and New Haven, Connecticut, where her father worked as a salesman for the American Radiator Company. After graduation from New Haven High School, Downe attended Smith College where she majored in English and religious studies.

After earning her A.B. in 1936, Downe returned home and enrolled in Yale Divinity School. Though financial problems delayed completion of the degree, she received a B.D. in religious education in 1939. (YDS would not award masters degrees to women at that time.) Interested in a career in "religious direction and education," during her Yale years Downe served as Director of the Daily Vacation Bible Schools run by the New Hampshire Council of Congregational Churches in the summer of 1937, and as assistant to the Girl Reserve Secretary of the New Haven YWCA (October 1938-June 1939).

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