Elizabeth “Liz” Jean Culver

Elizabeth “Liz” Jean Culver died peacefully at home surrounded by loving family on Sunday, January 13, 2013. She was 79. Liz was born in Newcastle, Wyoming on June 24, 1933 to George G. Culver and Elizabeth L. Culver. Liz attended high school in Kansas City, Missouri, then went to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, graduating with a B.S. She taught one year at Pembroke College at Brown University in Rhode Island before coming to the University of Washington as a Research Assistant in 1957. In 1966 Liz became an Associate Professor and earned her Master’s Degree at the UW, teaching physical education to students and aspiring P.E. teachers. A truly inquisitive, restless and joyous spirit, Liz was interested in everything around her. She wrote a book and produced videos on bowling. She was an owner of Action Fashions, a rainwear company, from 1981-2008. She was a sports enthusiast and Life Member of the UW Alumni Association, attending all of the Husky football games until her death. Besides golf, she also enjoyed skiing and traveling. Her favorite place to go was the Oregon Coast and walking the beach and playing golf at Gearhart Golf Links. As a dedicated Women’s Advisory Committee Chairwoman for the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA), serving in that volunteer position from 1968-83, Liz was instrumental in establishing the PNGA Women’s Division in 1984. She also served on many championship committees for the USGA and various Northwest golf associations. A testament to Liz’s dedication to the PNGA and her longevity as a fine player is her participation in every PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship from 1960 through 1998, with the exception of one year (1984) due to illness. She won the championship in 1978, and also the PNGA Senior Women’s Amateur in 1989. She won the WSWGA championship in 1970 and ’72. The award given to the qualifying medalist at the PNGA Women’s Amateur is still called the Liz Culver Medalist Trophy, and as often as she could she was on hand each year to personally present the trophy at the championship’s banquet. Liz suffered kidney failure in 1983, and went on dialysis for five months before receiving a kidney transplant. She was a member of the Woodinville-based Under Nines Golf Association, made up of 75 women golfers with low handicaps, and each year for the past three decades they raised money for the Northwest Kidney Centers, where Liz had received dialysis treatment before her transplant.Liz was a legend at Overlake Golf & Country Club in Medina, Washington and throughout the Northwest for decades. In 2003, she was awarded Overlake’s prestigious “Keeper of the Game” award, which is given “in recognition of a commitment to the game of golf and its classic virtues, and the belief that the essence of the game must not be lost in a world where change outpaces perspective.” She won the Overlake Women’s Club Championship an astounding 23 times, and was runner-up five times, and was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.She felt blessed to be “bitten” by the golf bug. It not only brought her many memorable successes, but showered her with many lasting friendships, the most important of all things in her life. For Liz, golf was just as much about the friendships as the championships. Liz’s faith, family and friends were her life, and she will be greatly missed by everyone whose life she touched. She was a member of the Lake City Presbyterian Church since 1987, and a longtime member of PEO International, promoting educational opportunities for women.She is survived by sister-in-law Bonnie Culver, nephew Christopher Culver, two nieces Patty (John Lee) of Casper, and Cathy (Dennis Lower), of Missoula, Montana. Liz also had three grandnieces and four grandnephews. She was preceded in death by her brother, Gerald G. Culver and nephew William G. Culver. A celebration of Liz’s life will be held Wednesday, March 6 at 1:00pm, at Lake City Presbyterian Church, 3841 NE 123rd St, Seattle, WA 98125; phone number is 206-362-6878. For more information, call Overlake Golf & Country Club at 425-454-5031 or the PNGA office at 800-643-6410.All are invited to attend the service, so that we can all remember this great lady, this star that shone all-too-briefly in our sky.

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