Elizabeth Hall Rolph

ELIZABETH (LIZ) ROLPH

 

Elizabeth (also known as Beth and Liz) Rolph, passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, February 6, 2020, after a courageous fight with cancer.  She was born to Neil J. Clarke and Helen Elizabeth Blood on May 22, 1942 in Webster Groves, St. Louis, Missouri.  She had one sibling, an older brother, Neil J. Clarke Jr.  Six years later the family moved from Missouri to Pasadena.  She graduated from Pasadena High School in 1960.  She had a strong love for tennis, horses and music.  She had a horse which she kept for a time at Eaton Canyon stables and later kept in Ridgecrest with her second horse.  Her father, an attorney and judge, introduced her to the high Mojave desert, where he had a cabin.  After high school she took a job at the China Lake Naval Base in Ridgecrest, where she met her first husband-Charles (Chuck) Thomas.  With Chuck Thomas she had her two children, Karen Kim Sanders and Scott Lee Thomas.  She was very active in the local Presbyterian Church.  When her marriage to Chuck ended, she married the interim minister-Fred C. Kennedy.  They moved to Modesto and then to San Antonio, Texas for a few years.  She missed her home of Pasadena and eventually moved back to the area in the mid 1970s.  Her marriage to Fred Kennedy ended and she became very established in the Arcadia-Pasadena area and Pasadena Presbyterian Church.  She had a variety of jobs, including at one point her own advertising sales business. During this time she also nurtured her artistic side by learning how to make stained glass products, including designing her own stained glass windows.  She was also involved for many years with the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.  In the 1990s she decided to follow her heart and apply to Fuller Theological Seminary, from where she graduated in 1995 with a Master of Arts in Theology.  Also in the early 1990s, she met the man who would become her third husband-Jim Rolph.  Together they enjoyed several years of sailing on his sailboat (she also loved the ocean) and she helped him with his business-Chino Motor Coach-where her son Scott also worked for a time.  Alas, this marriage ended as well.  She then moved back into her mother’s house in Altadena, after her mother’s demise, and became involved in the local community and San Marino Community Church.  She was a part of bible study groups and the women’s PEO group.  She was always a part of the choir in each church she joined.  She also took up writing, another artistic pursuit she enjoyed.

 

She leaves behind her two beloved children, Karen and Scott, and two beloved grandchildren Matthew Erik Sanders and Kevin Patrick Sanders.

 

Services will be held at San Marino Community Church, 1750 Virginia Road, on Friday February 28 at 10 am, followed by the interment at Mountain View Cemetery, 2400 N. Fair Oaks in Altadena at noon, followed by a light reception.  For further details and to RSVP, please contact Karen Sanders at kmkstahoe@sbcglobal.net