Elisa Gelijkens Birch

Elisa Birch passed away peacefully at her granddaughter’s home at the age of 98.5 years old. In her last years she was cared for by granddaughter Diana and her husband Charlie and great granddaughter Alisa who provided the best ending to a long life.

Elisa was born in Antwerp, Belgium the oldest of five children. In Antwerp she swam competitively, took piano and singing lessons - singing in various choirs, worked in her father’s small shop selling stockings and lingerie, and studied business after high school.

Elisa married the love of her life, Vincent Birch (1923-1999), December 8, 1945 in Antwerp City Hall. They met the year prior at a Christmas party hosted for soldiers during WWII. Elisa’s singing at the party captured Vincent’s heart. He walked her home that evening and continued to visit every chance he could take leave from his wartime British Army duties. After they married, they traveled on the troop train (in cars separated by gender) to England where Vincent left Elisa to live with his family in Bolton while he returned to his army service. Elisa kept herself busy learning English and working as a hospital aid, spinning cotton at a mill, running a bed and breakfast, and her favorite, delivering the Royal Post by bike. That was her favorite job because she could be outdoors and she loved meeting people. Of course, as was true throughout her life, the families on her mail route ended up knowing her by name and considered her a friend. The same was later true of her mail-delivery people, grocers, bank tellers and anyone else she encountered regularly – they knew her by name and she by theirs.

Elisa and Vincent lived and raised two children, Hilary Margaret (1948-2014) and William Franklin (1951-) in various towns in northern and then southern England. Hilary was named by and after the Heywood police chief’s wife, Margaret, who often saved hard-to-get, post-war fruits for Elisa. Bananas were a favorite because she loved making and eating banana butties aka sandwiches. Elisa enjoyed taking Hilary and William to the beach at Weston-super-Mare, to rent a beach chair and order fish and chips wrapped in newspaper or taking rides on the back of Vincent’s black motorcycle with the two kids tucked into the sidecar.

On May 26, 1956, their family of four boarded the SS United States (the fastest ship of its day) in England, and five days later arrived in New York City, America. They had $85 in cash, clothing and little else. They made their way to Salt Lake City, where Elisa’s parents and sisters lived. The four became U.S. Citizens together in 1984. As most immigrants, Elisa and Vincent took great pride in being American but never lost some special connections to Europe. For one, their accents. Followed by: teatime with cookies or crumpets, butties

(buttered roll sandwiches made with homemade chips aka fries, bananas or cucumbers), and Elisa’s famous potato pie with HP sauce.

Elisa began working at LDS Hospital in 1956 and as she often did, won over many with her work ethic and genuine sincerity, helping her climb up the ladder to eventually become the Physicians Office Building (POB) Manager. She retired in 1989 after serving more than 30-years. She also served as volunteer loan committee member for the Health Care Credit Union for 39 years.

Elisa took her grandma role seriously, showing up in various ways for her grand, great-grand and finally great-great grandkids: from babysitting, to attending school ceremonies, performances and sports, to camping, and always throwing you a special birthday celebration. Everyone in the family was invited to your birthday and somehow managed to cram into the small house or yard without feeling crowded. She let you pick your favorite dinner and dessert which were always homemade and delicious. Granddaughter Erika said, “she was the kind of grandma that let you have a tent in the house for sleepovers, gave you doughnuts and chocolate milk for breakfast, and pretended to believe you when you told her you were allergic to crust, carefully cutting them off your sandwiches. She was there for everything, and always so proud.”

After travelling and camping all around Utah and parts of the U.S. in their motorhome (collecting coffee mugs as they went), Elisa and Vincent were drawn to the crystal blue waters and the raspberry shakes of Bear Lake. They spent many years hosting campouts at their trailer overlooking the sparkling blue water and stopping for hot french-fries at Gators on the way.

Elisa carried her father’s sense of humor, she loved to laugh and tease/be teased, but could also drive a hard bargain (especially when the grocery store clerk didn’t give her the right discount). She was giver of many things including crocheting hundreds of blankets, sweaters, hats and scarves over the years for family, friends, neighbors and strangers in need. However, her most unfailing and awe-inspiring trait was her endless source of compassionate acceptance of all things. She always accepted life and more importantly people as it/they came. That meant that people from all walks of life came to appreciate and admire her. It also meant if you ever needed anything, you could always go to Elisa for help or a hug.

She is preceded in death by her husband Vincent, her daughters Yvonne (stillborn) and Hilary, her grandson Michael, her great-grandson Jason, and her brother (Leonard). She is survived by her son, Bill (Deanne) and granddaughter Erika (Grady -great grandkids Annie and Harry). And Granddaughters, Diana (Charlie - great granddaughter Alisa), Christina (BJ

– great granddaughter Ashlie (Taylor)), Kari (formerly married to grandson Michael – great grandson Josh (Brianna) and great grandson Doug (Brenda)). Thanks to granddaughter Ashlie, she continued to get to grandmother little children with great, great granddaughters Tristina, Triana, Trinity and Tessa. She is also survived by her three sisters, Jenny (“yoo-hoo”), Lucienne, and Edith.

A private family celebration will be held in Salt Lake City. Donations in her honor can be made to the Utah Humane Society where she adopted dog after dog (big and small, young and old, all spoiled).