Elisabeth “Ellen” Stouwer

Elisabeth “Ellen” Emma Van Dam Stouwer

Birth: December 22, 1947

Death: February 25, 2007 in Victoria, B.C.

Biography:
Elizabeth married Bernard Stouwer on December 5, 1947.

Rabbi Lynn Greenhough, of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple, Victoria, BC officiated at the funeral and gave the following eulogy:
Elisheva bat Shmuel v’Esther July 4, 2007, 11:30

We are here to remember Elizabeth, as a daughter, a wife and a mother, a woman who was faithful to her family, creating in her home a stalwart devotion beyond any physical limitation, a woman who found room for playfulness with her daughter even in her last month of life. 

In Elizabeth’s last year, she was cared for in her home by her daughter Rochelle, and even as we remember her mother, we honour the care that Rochelle gave her mother. Out mothers bring us all into the world, but the honour of easing those same mothers into the world to come, only falls to a special few. 

A metzevah, the headstone assists all of us to remember those who have died. Even as Jacob marked the burial site of his beloved Rachel, we have continued his tradition of honouring through memory. As we read these names amongst us here, we are all called to remember those who have died, those we may have known well, or those we knew not at all. 

The letters Pay and nun mean “poh nitman – “here is buried’

The letters tav, nun, tzadek, bet, and heh – teheinafsh(ah) tzerurah bitzror ha-chayyim; “May his(her) soul be bound up in the bonds of life”

Gravesite Details: Row B – Plot 33

Inscription:
פּ״נ (Here lies)
In Loving Memory Of
A Wondeful Wife, Mother & Daughter
Elisabeth (Ellen) Stouwer
Hebrew Name: Elisheve b. Shloma v’Ester
Dec 22, 1947 – Feb. 25, 2007
ת נ צ ב ה
abbreviation for Biblical quote: “May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

Parents:
Esther de Bruin van Dam (1912–1999)
Samuel van Dam (1914–2013)

Spouse:
Bernard “Bob” Stouwer

Child:
Rachel