Peter West Elkington died quietly on September 23, 2009 in Queen Victoria Hospital, Revelstoke, British Columbia. He was born at home to Howard West Elkington and Katherine Wister (Mason) Elkington on July 24, 1923 in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Germantown Friends School in his early school years. He attended Eerde International School in Ommen, Holland, for the school year of 1938-39 while his parents worked for Quaker organizations in Berlin, and then spent one year at Westtown School. He was drafted in 1941. As a conscientious objector, he served in the Civilian Public Service Corps doing a wide variety of projects from planting trees to being a subject in medical experiments.
In 1945, he married Harriet Stoll Francke, of Hicksville, Long Island, New York. He returned to Haverford College after completing his Civilian Public Service and graduated with a degree in history in 1949. He completed a Masters of Education from Temple University in the early 1950s. He began a long career in teaching. After his first marriage ended in divorce in 1967, he married Mary Ruth (Sharum) Black and moved to the Yukon Territory.
He became a Canadian citizen soon after moving to Canada, and he and Mary lived in several different towns in British Columbia, ending up in Revelstoke in 1977, where they became active participants in community activities. Upon his retirement from teaching, he started a computer business and began writing, both of which brought him a great deal of pleasure. He wrote an occasional column for the Revelstoke Unique newspaper. His books ranged from fiction to biography to philosophy.
After Mary died in 1996, he began to travel a great deal, spending time in Ireland, England, Hawaii and Mexico as well as visiting his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was an avid reader who imparted a love of reading to his children and grandchildren. A birth-right Quaker, he belonged, at various times, to Doylestown Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania, Argenta and Vernon Meetings in British Columbia. He is survived by his sister Theodora Waring of Newton Centre, Massachusetts, five daughters, Jane Wohl (Barry Wohl), Judith McDowell (Robert McDowell), Ann Elkington (Alvin Lorman), Carol Elkington (Duane Goddman) and Rachel Oakes (Donald Oakes), and one step-daughter, Nancy Sanborn (Alvin Sanborn), as well as 14 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. There will be no formal service by Peter’s own request.
Cremation arrangements were in the care of Brandon Bowers Funeral Home, Revelstoke.
