Elizabeth Mary Wilkie

Elizabeth Mary Wilkie, age 81, of Grants Pass, died Friday, November 6, 2009 at her home.

A funeral mass will be at 1:00 p.m., Monday, November 30, 2009 at St. Anne Catholic Church with Father Paschal Ezurike officiating. Interment will follow at Hawthorne Memorial Gardens. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Elizabeth was born January 20, 1928 in New York, New York and was raised in New Jersey. She was a high school graduate. In 1953 she married James P. Wilkie and in 1956 they moved to Southern California. She bred Pekingese dogs and babysat so she could stay home and raise her children. She later worked for a Southern California school district. In October 2009 she moved from California to Grants Pass.

Elizabeth was a member of the Pekingese Club of Southern California.

She volunteered at a homeless shelter for cats and dogs.

She loved her animals and enjoyed showing her champion dogs in dog shows. She especially enjoyed coaching her daughters softball team and sewing her and her girls matching dresses while they were growing up.

Survivors include two daughters, Deborah Leishman of Grants Pass, Oregon and Elizabeth Wright of Southern California; a son Gerard Wilkie of Lake Oswego, Oregon; a brother, Tommy Gaggin; eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James Wilkie of 56 years and two sisters, Nancy Rose and Marion Booth.