Elizabeth Long

Elizabeth Tecklenburg Long of Charleston, South Carolina passed away peacefully at her Meeting Street home with her family near her bedside on September 3, 2010 after a brief illness.  The daughter of Henry Christian John and Pauline Ashe Livingston Tecklenburg and widow of Leonard Lawrence Long, Betty was born in Charleston on May 26, 1920, attended Memminger School, and graduated from Winthrop College.

A Mass of Christian Burial celebrating her life will be held at The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Monday, September 6, 2010 at 2 pm.  The receiving of friends will be at 11 Meeting Street from 4 to 6pm on Sunday, September 5, 2010.  Rite of Committal will be in Bethany Cemetery.

Betty and her husband Leonard moved to Atlanta, Georgia after the war in 1947 where they raised their eight children.  Leonard, formerly an attorney practicing in Charleston and a member of the General Assembly of South Carolina, founded Long Realty Corporation with his father, L. D. Long, and they built high-rise apartment buildings and thousands of homes for the burgeoning Atlanta real estate market as well as in Miami and Puerto Rico.  Except for summers at Station 22 Sullivan’s Island, the couple did not return to Charleston to live until 1979. Betty enjoyed golfing with Leonard, good friends, and her five boys in Atlanta.  She was active in and chaired civic and school matters especially those involving Marist School and the Cathedral of Christ the King and its grade school.

In Charleston Betty attended the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist where she was a faithful participant and enthusiastic parishioner.  She often hosted the clergy and nuns, helped raise funds (especially over many years for the new steeple at The Cathedral), and enjoyed service as a reader for Monday morning Mass.  Betty was active in charitable and social activities here, and in recent years always looked forward to her Friday bridge group, investment club, and the Marian’s.  She followed politics with lifelong exuberance and plenty of amusing, albeit fervent, opinions. The USC Gamecock’s football and basketball teams and the Atlanta Braves became great “friends” to cheer on over the years.  She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (being a direct descendant of signer Philip Livingston), and also a member of the South Carolina Historical Society.

Betty valued beyond all things her close relationships with family and friends whom she never failed to remember.  She brought an infectious energy, constant smile, ceaseless encouragement, uncommon creativity, kind words, keen intellect, and a self-deprecating sense of humor to any occasion, gathering, or celebration.  Betty’s deepest joy and daily focus was in loving, caring and cooking for, teaching, encouraging, telling stories to, and nurturing well those whom she loved with all her heart and soul – and who loved and respected Betty to her very last days when as head of the family she taught us how to die as well as she had lived.  A gracious entertainer and hostess, Betty possessed a generosity of spirit and kindness to the depth of her being with which she inspired those whom she knew (and some she would never know).  Her instinct for putting all at ease grew from an unselfishness that taught quietly by example those who saw and listened.

Betty was predeceased by her husband, Leonard and brother, Henry Tecklenburg and is survived by her eight children: Leonard L. Long, Jr. and his wife Anne of Sullivan’s Island, SC; Elizabeth Long Sousa and her husband Victor of Clarksburg, Maryland; Amelia Long Walker and her husband Billy of Lexington, SC; Henry T. Long and his wife Kathryn of Atlanta, Georgia; J.C. Long, II of Charleston, SC; Robert H. Long and his wife Julie of Charleston, SC; Walter L. Long of Atlanta, Georgia; and Polly Long Carter and her husband Richard of Newberry, SC; together with 17 grandchildren: Mason Long, Rutledge Long, Livingston Long, Palmer Long, Caroline Flynn, Molly Anderson, Catherine Sousa, Will Walker, Bette Walker, Whitney Bulbrook and husband Jim, Lauren Long, L.D. Long, II, Maggie Long, Natalie Long, Wesley Long, Megan Long, Elizabeth Carter, and six great grandchildren: Foster Ouzts, Ellis Ouzts, Logan Flynn, Lawton Flynn, Ivy Anderson, and Emily Anderson. Betty is also survived by her beloved older sister Polly T. Durban of Aiken, SC, her great friend and sister-in-law Esther H. Tecklenburg of Charleston, and loving oldest cousin Elizabeth Tecklenburg of Mount Pleasant, SC, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

The family would like to express a special thank you to amazing caregivers Dorothy Grant and Judy Sigler and to the years of superb, encouraging, and effective medical advice from Drs. Sara Stapleton and David Ploth. In lieu of flowers, donations in Betty’s name might be considered for The MUSC Foundation, Division of Nephrology, c/o Dr. David Ploth, 18 Bee Street, Charleston, SC  29425.

We shall never forget the good and kind feelings given us so often and lovingly by our Mom, our MaMa, our dearest friend.

Arrangements entrusted to J. Henry Stuhr Funeral Home, Downtown Chapel, Charleston.