Elise Alloy-Relihan

Elise Alloy-Relihan, of Norton, Massachusetts, died Friday, Aug. 25, after a brief series of difficult illnesses. She was a few days shy of her 68th birthday. Rabbi Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, a long-time family friend, officiated at a chapel service and interment at Sharon Memorial Park the following Tuesday, Aug. 29, which were attended by a loving community of family and friends.

Elise was born in Peoria, Illinois to Louise (Hand) Alloy and Justice Jay J Alloy, the chief justice of the third district appellate court. A reader by passion and a lawyer by training, Elise received her B.A. in English with Honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. She and her husband, Joel Relihan, met as undergraduates, studied together at Madison, and married in 1983 as Joel finished his Ph.D. in Classics. Their first two years were spent in West Peoria; their next eight were in Urbana, their alma mater, where Joel was in the Classics Department; when he took his teaching position at Wheaton College they moved from Urbana to Norton in 1993 with their two daughters, Clare and Grace, to whom Elise was passionately devoted.

Elise was possessed of an extraordinary loving-kindness. All who met her were struck by her warm heart, her bright smile, the embrace of her friendliness, and the wit of her conversation. Though not gregarious, she was social, kind and welcoming, bringing into her life and under her wing many who were proud to be her honorary children: Talitha, Liz, Agnes, Erin, Sam, Pierre, Jason. She enjoyed being the hostess of the large holiday parties that her guests eagerly anticipated. She was content. She often said that she was lucky that after her life’s twists and turns she ended up in New England and in Massachusetts. She liked the life she led, she liked the house she lived in, and she loved the people she shared it with.

She is survived by her husband, Joel; by her daughter Clare Alloy and son-in-law Sam Alloy, of North Attleborough, Massachusetts; by her daughter Grace Alloy-Relihan, of Pownal, Maine; and by her brother, Stephen Alloy, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Her dying was painful, her death was a shock, and her loss is keenly felt. In Elise’s memory, all are invited to pause a moment to contemplate how fortunate they are to be alive.