Elizabeth Class Payne

Elizabeth (Liz) Class Payne, devoted wife for sixty-four years of retired Hartford attorney, Raymond J. (Ray) Payne, died on February 20, 2019. She was born in Yonkers, NY on May 8, 1931, the daughter of John L. and Clara F. Class. Liz was a 1953 graduate of DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, where she met Ray when both were students there. She was a member of Delta Zeta Sorority. Liz served as 1953 Class Secretary for many years and was honored to be elected class speaker at her 50th DePauw reunion in 2003. Married on October 9, 1954 in Yonkers, NY, Ray and Liz spent two years in the New York City area and then relocated to West Hartford in 1956 where they lived until 2009 when they moved to the Seabury Retirement Community in Bloomfield. Liz was a long-time member of St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford where she was one of the first two women elected to the Vestry in 1966. She had a long association with the former St. James’s Greater Hartford Antique Show and served several times as chairman. She was a volunteer docent at the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society for 35 years and was elected as a Trustee Emerita in 2014. She was a member of the Town and County Club, the Country Club of Farmington, the Ruth Wyllys Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the College Club of Hartford. In addition to her husband, Liz is survived by three daughters: Virginia C. Payne of Rochester, NY; Catherine C. Payne and her husband, Daniel Banner, of San Francisco, CA; Christine C. Payne and her husband, Randall D’Arche of Seattle, WA; a son, David C. Payne, and his wife, Audrey Goodman, of Atlanta, GA; and five grandchildren: Ruth Payne, Charles Payne, Hannah D’Arche, Olivia D’Arche, and Samuel Banner. She was predeceased by a sister, Jean F. Class, of Bronxville, NY. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. at St. James’s Episcopal Church, 1018 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Endowment Fund of St. James’s Episcopal Church, 19 Walden Street, West Hartford, CT 06107, to the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT 06107, or to the Seabury Charitable Foundation, 200 Seabury Drive, Bloomfield, CT 06002. Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home, West Hartford has care of arrangements. For directions, please visit www.taylorandmodeen.com.