Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon Thawley

Emma Elizabeth Howard Bacon Thawley – “Libby” was born in 1923 at Kalarama, an estate that sat high on a hilltop in Hunt Valley. Her four brothers adored “Little Sis,” as they called her. They carted her around the farm and chased her through the meadows. Little Sis grew easily into tomboy ways as the boys teased and taunted her and then squeezed her with bear hugs and carried her on piggyback rides.

When she was about five, her family moved to a Ruxton estate, which her father managed until the Depression hit. Although times were tough, the family survived and even saved enough money to buy a house in nearby Riderwood. Money was scarce, but Little Sis grew up in a happy household where something was always happening or about to happen.

As the 1930s rolled by, she walked to Riderwood Elementary School and later hitched a ride to Towson High School in her brother Bob’s old Chevy coupe. At Towson, she played basketball and field hockey, catching the eye of Jim Bacon, a good-looking high school athlete who lived nearby. When Pearl Harbor exploded into World War II, Jim was drafted, and Little Sis headed to Alabama to marry him on Christmas Eve 1942.

A few years after the war ended, Libby became a working mom. Life was busy with her two children, Beth and Bob, and with her job as secretary at Riderwood and then Ruxton Elementary Schools. She was active at Hunt’s Church, singing in the choir and participating in Hunt’s Sisters’ activities and events. She watched her kids grow up, fall in love, get married – Beth to Fred; Bob to Carol – and start their own lives.

A traveler, Libby was always eager to see new sights. She visited England and Northern Ireland three times, took two of her grandchildren to Paris and London, traveled on the QE2, and soaked up the sun in the Bahamas. At home, she planted a huge vegetable garden and cared for numerous pets, including a backyard pony and a little white lamb. What she loved most was a new role - grandma to Gray, Jennifer, and Brian.

Jim died in 1994, and, a few years later, Libby married Robert Thawley. They shared an active life with a condo in Rehoboth, Delaware, a winter hiatus in Naples, Florida, and a new residence at Blakehurst. After Robert died, Libby turned her attention to writing, supplying the Blakehurst Banner with sixteen of her short stories.

In 2018, she moved from Blakehurst into a small apartment in her daughter’s home where she was healthy and active and surrounded by things she loved - her tea pot collection, her paintings, her white kitchen chair, her DVDs, and her piles of puzzles. She also used an iPad, played Scrabble, ate steamed crabs, sent emails, baked cookies, loved White Cat, rescued Miss Ellie Cat, vacationed at the beach, made macaroni salad for family picnics, embraced her seven great grandchildren Tucker, Molly, Mac, James, Ward, Evelyn, and Lucy.

Early on Friday morning, September 23, 2022, Libby reached for the tender hand of Jesus and walked with him into Paradise. Emma Elizabeth Howard Bacon Thawley, 99, was loved by many and will be missed by many.

Libby was buried on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at Jessops Church in Sparks, Maryland. On Sunday, November 27, the family will host a reception at 11 a.m. at Hunt’s Church in Riderwood, followed at noon with a life celebration service in the church sanctuary.

Donations in memory of Libby may be sent to the Music Fund at Hunt’s Church, 1912 Old Court Road, Towson, Maryland 21204.