YORKTOWN — Elizabeth Hendrickson, 69, passed away Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, after a brief illness at her beautiful home surrounded by her three children and her most meaningful memories.
Born Elizabeth Stringer in 1951 in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was a proud graduate of Bridgewater Raritan West High School in 1969, where she met her high school sweetheart and the love of her life, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Lars Hendrickson.
She went on to attend St. Peter’s School of Nursing in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where she graduated in 1972. Elizabeth worked as a registered nurse at Hunterdon Medical Center in New Jersey, Sacred Heart Hospital in Florida and Bayside Hospital in Virginia Beach. In 1983, with the arrival of her third child, she decided to switch careers to the greatest of her life, a full-time mother. Later in life, she pursued an education in historic preservation at Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg.
Passionate about her community, Elizabeth was an active volunteer throughout her life. Some of her most important contributions include many years with the Navy Wives Club, where she also served as president; the Catholic Family and Children’s Service Auxiliary; in the classroom and lunchroom at Star of the Sea School; the Brownie’s Organization, the Health Room, teaching children’s liturgy at All Saint’s Catholic Church and Star of the Sea; and in collections preservation at the James Monroe Museum.
A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, she was an eternal optimist. She never met a person who wasn’t in awe of her strength, character, kindness and ability to share her wisdom and her heart. She touched those around her in the many states and towns she lived in with her family, including Bayonne, New Jersey, where she was born; Iselin, South Plainfield, Bridgewater and Bound Brook, New Jersey; Annapolis and Lexington Park, Maryland; Pensacola, Florida; Newport, Rhode Island; and Virginia Beach, Manassas and Yorktown.
Nothing mattered in the world more than her family, and she made the most of every opportunity she could to bring family together and create family traditions. Most notable would be family vacations; hosting holiday dinners and parties at her home; supporting her children in every possible interest or activity they were involved in; and somehow still making the most delicious dinners for the entire family to sit down to every night, no matter what.
Affectionately known as Beth, Liz, Mom, Buzzer, Grandma, Aunt Lizzie, Mama Hen and more, she was a woman of what seemed like 1,000 hobbies, and always encouraged others to find hobbies they were passionate about. Some of her favorites included genealogy, which she researched for over 37 years and was inducted into the Daughters of the American Revolution; cross-stitch; quilting; sewing; reading; traveling the United States with her family; gardening; decorating her beautiful home, and redecorating regularly; scrapbooking; collecting teacups; and researching the history of how America was founded. A woman who never stopped, she loved living and loved experiencing life and everything it had to offer.
Elizabeth is survived by her three children, Christina E. FitzSimmons of Yorktown, John S. Hendrickson, of Dumfries and Thomas E. Hendrickson, of New York, New York; her beautiful grandchildren, Connor and Violet FitzSimmons and Jack Hendrickson and unborn baby brother; and four siblings, Virginia Roberts of Annapolis, Maryland, Marion Welliver, of Newport News, Eugene Stringer of Annandale, New Jersey, and Thomas Stringer of Middlesex, New Jersey. Her passing was preceded by her loving husband, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Lars Hendrickson; son, Richard L. Hendrickson; and her parents, Eugene and Elizabeth Stringer, all of whom she is with now in heaven.
Interment will take place in Arlington National Cemetery, where she will eternally rest with her soulmate, Scott. Funeral Mass and interment details will be announced in the coming weeks. Virtual attendance will be available.
In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may take place in form of donations to the Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease Foundation Inc. or The Salvation Army in memory of Elizabeth Hendrickson.
Share online condolences with the family at Whiting’s Funeral Home.
