Elizabeth "Eliza" Margaret Totter

Elizabeth Margaret Van Sant Totter

Elizabeth Van Sant Totter, 83, of the Oak Ridge Retirement Home, died Monday, January 31, at the Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The daughter of Ernestine Walter and Isaac Van Sant, she was born March 10, 1911, in Van Tassell. She was educated at the University of Wyoming and taught school before she married. As a homemaker and a mother, she traveled extensively because of her husband's work. She was an accomplished hostess for the many scientists and dignitaries who visited while the family lived in the Washington, D.C., area. She spent two years in South America, where she taught at an Uruguayan-American school in Montevideo.

She loved growing plants and flowers, and she collected glass paperweights. She was active in the First United Methodist Church and Women's Outreach program. For several years she was part of an informal group of women who made dolls for the Oak Ridge Holiday Bureau.

She is survived by her husband, John R. Totter, Oak Ridge, Tenn.; three children - Lorena Totter Barfuss of Fullerton, Cal.; Anita Totter of Rye Brook, New York; John Totter of Plano, Tex.; five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Two brothers Newton and Nicholas Van Sant died last year.

The private family interment took place Friday, Feb. 3, at the Oak Ridge Memorial Park. The family has requested donations be sent in her memory to the Alzheimer's Association at 1924 Alcoa Highway, Knoxville, Tenn. or the First Methodist Church, Women's Outreach Program, Box 4669, Oak Ridge, Tenn.

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