Elisabeth Amanda Stoner

"Local Poet is Dead"

Elisabeth Amanda Alexander Stoner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 8, 1934. She died on December 17, 2025. Her parents were Amanda Hays Alexander and Walter Harry Alexander.

Elisabeth graduated from the Hillsdale School and attended Smith College. She graduated from West Chester University summa cum laude. At that time, she won a poetry-writing contest sponsored by Wing’s Press, Belfast, ME. Her prize was the publication of her first book, Watermark.

In 1952 she married John Thorp Stoner. They became the parents of Jane, Richard, and Joel. The marriage ended in 1978.

While living in Sewickley, PA, Elisabeth operated a freelance business, teaching and lecturing on design with plant material, arranging flowers for weddings, decorating events, exhibiting in art galleries, such as The Bird in Hand Gallery, and entering design classes at the Philadelphia Flower Show where she won many awards, including Best in Show.

Elisabeth served as a volunteer and as President of the Child Health Association of Sewickley for which she wrote, directed, and choreographed her original musical, New Faces from Outer Spaces. The show provided a happy evening of amusement for its audience of contributors. For one charitable event, she created massive glass panels covered with designs made of flat multi-colored stained-glass scrap. For the first time, the decor was not an expense, but the pieces were sold making a profit for the Association’s various charities. Some of these of these brilliant glass panels still exist today as elegant room dividers or lighted wall hangings. At that time, Elisabeth was a Federated Judge of Artistic Design and Horticulture.

She was employed at Schubert Advertising, Exton, PA, and with Shipley Associates, Wilmington, DE. Finally, she worked as an editor for the publication Varia, produced by the Ardmoor Corporation in Chadds Ford, PA.

Following a career as a teacher, poet, writer, editor, artist, and designer, Elisabeth retired to Milford, Delaware. She was active with the MERR (Marine, Education, Research, and Rescue) Institute and as a poet and teacher. She taught poetry writing at the University of Delaware’s Academy of Lifelong Learning and while teaching, published 4 more books of her poetry, prose, and photography.

Elisabeth is survived by her brother, Richard Alexander, her sons Richard Thorp Stoner (and wife, Jennifer), Joel Alexander Stoner (and wife, Trish) a daughter, Jane Hays Stoner, and her grandchildren, Justin Stoner, Keaton Stoner, and Micayla Stoner Cissel along with two great grandchildren, Sawyer and Annabelle Cissel. Elisabeth also leaves behind a bevy of enthusiastic and loving friends.

Walt Whitman inspired Elisabeth. She quoted these final lines of Leaves of Grass: “Great is life . . . and real and mystical . . . wherever and whoever, Great is death . . . Sure as life holds all parts together, death holds all parts together; Sure as the stars return again after they merge in the night, death is as great as life.”

A gathering to celebrate Elisabeth Stoner’s life will be held on Saturday, May 9th at the shelter on Slaughter Beach at 11 a.m. All are welcome.

Elisabeth was committed to the cause of preserving the ocean and its inhabitants. Memorial donations may be made in her name to the MERR Institute, 801 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE 19958.