Cornerstone of community recalled as tireless booster of
Windsor who saw town’s transition
by BARRY W. DUGAN, Managing Editor
Lisa Elsbree, a long-time force in the Windsor community who
epitomized Windsor’s transition from a quiet farming town to a
vibrant suburban community, died last week at the age of 89.
Regarded by longtime residents as the matriarch of Windsor,
Elsbree had a hand in most major community projects and fundraising
efforts and was instrumental in the drive for Windsor’s
incorporation in 1991. She was a director of the Windsor Chamber of
Commerce and served as it most visible ambassador for more than 25
years.
Elsbree was a supporter of the Windsor Historical Society, the
Windsor Boys & Girls Club and served on town’s Senior Advisory
Committee. She volunteered at the Windsor Grange and Farm Bureau,
the Windsor Community United Methodist Church and the Windsor Food
Pantry.
“She was the grande dame of Windsor, there is no question about
it,” said Marie Coakley, who knew Elsbree since moving to Windsor
in 1970. “Nobody will ever take that spot. Not in my lifetime.”
Funeral services were to be held Tuesday, May 27 at 11 a.m. at
the Windsor Community Methodist United Church, after the Times went
to press.
Lisa Elsbree was born in 1914 in Puu’nene, Maui. She grew up and
went to school in Antioch, California. She moved to Windsor with
her husband, Pat, in 1945 and settled on a ranch they bought with
Pat’s cousin and partner, Don DuVander. At one time the Elsbree
ranch took in nearly 400 acres.
That land is now occupied by subdivisions and shopping centers
along Brooks and Arata Lane. “The original ranch ran the length of
Brooks Road,” said Charles Elsbree, one of Lisa’s five children.
The ranch produced prunes, apples, pears, grapes and Christmas
trees, along with sheep, cattle and horses.
After the death of her husband in 1975, Lisa continued to
operate the horse stables. “She really ran that horse stable,” said
Charles, “using that wheelbarrow and slopping that manure for many
years. It was hard, hard work.”
Eventually, the family ranch was sold for residential
development. Lisa sealed the deal for Elsbree Estates on a
“handshake” with developer Richard Coombs.
“She and her family ties to Windsor are enormous,” said Coombs.
“She represents a real connection to the past. She has been a huge
supporter of the Boys & Girls Club, the Chamber, the Methodist
Church. She and her family have been involved in just about
everything in Windsor. She will be missed dearly.”
While Elsbree was one of Windsor’s biggest boosters, her son
said giving up the ranch was not an easy thing.
“Part of my concern was walking the balance between being a
farmer and trying to justify not preserving the farm and turning it
into a housing development,” said her son, Charles. “I had to move
her off the farm. Watching the house get plowed under, the lakes
filled up … I think it was a big thing for her.
“She realized she wanted to better the community. We grew up
without a library, schools, no real law enforcement. It was Poor
Man’s Flat. So she was pleased about it going from nothing to what
it is now.”
Not only did Lisa enjoy the changes — she was making them
happen. “She was involved with every new thing that opened up … she
was there to cut the ribbon,” said Charles. “It got so you couldn’t
pick up the Windsor Times without seeing her face in there.”
Pastor Jerry Smith, who officiated funeral services along with
Pastor Jean Shaw, met Elsbree when he came to Windsor in 1989 to
lead the Windsor Community Methodist United Church.
“I think as much as any one person, Lisa tended to kind of
epitomize this transition from a small rural community to a more
suburban town,” said Smith. “It was her willingness to be there and
welcome the stranger into the community. She did a tremendous job
of making newcomers come into the community and feel that they were
part of something important. She did a really good job at
that.”
Smith said Elsbree was instrumental in helping Windsor make that
transition to a suburban community. “You can’t go through that town
without seeing Elsbree all over it. They played a role in every bit
of it. If a community had a matriarch, she would be the one.”
Coakley recalls Elsbree’s boundless energy and the pride she
took in seeing Windsor grow. “She was a doer,” said Coakley. “She
was involved in everything. She was on the chamber board and she
remained an ambassador of the chamber until the day she died. Lisa
was absolutely the cornerstone of this community.”
Coakley recalled the friendship she developed with Elsbree over
the years. “She was a little squirt, but she was a hard worker. She
had a heart ten times as big as her … she was like a mother to me.
She has been a very big part of my life.”
Elsbree’s pies became a thing of legend at local auctions,
starting with a chamber event at the Windsor Grange, and also the
Boys & Girls Club auction. Coombs was reported to have paid
$1,000 for one of Elsbree’s pies and Coakley said they would then
sell slices of the pies to other bidders. “The most we made was
$4,300,” said Coakley.
Coombs recalled the first pie he bought at the Windsor Grange
going for $20, but added “let’s just say the pies became more
expensive as the years went on.”
Leslie Lewis, founding executive director of the Windsor Boys
& Girls Club, recalled Elsbree as a woman with vision. “She was
a visionary,” said Lewis. “When you spoke about the dream, she
could see the need. She was very proud of the fact that the Boys
& Girls Club was built on land that she and her husband had
farmed … I will miss her friendship.”
The most recent tribute to the Elsbree’s came when the new skate
park was named after Lisa’s late husband, Pat.
“I’m so thankful she lived to see the skate park named after
Pat,” said Coakley. “Pat was her life … she loved him so much. It
was hard on her when he passed away.”
Not only did Lisa have the energy to help Windsor grow, she had
the resources. “She had the time and the energy and the
constitution, but she also had the money to do it,” said Coakley.
“She wasn’t one who just wrote the check. She was the first one to
come to meetings, bake cakes and pies. She was there not just with
her checkbook, but spiritually and morally.
“And she was used to getting her way. She always got it done.
I’m going to miss her terribly. Bless her heart. She was a great
lady.”
Rev. Smith recalled Elsbree as “an incredibly interesting
woman.”
“She always held her own counsel and she always had a sense of
reserve about her,” said Smith. “And she always did things on Lisa
Elsbree’s terms. She loved the old Windsor that she was a part of …
but when she saw that the community was making that change, she was
able to embrace it. And then personify that change.”
Smith said Elsbree joked about the spot on which they built the
first model homes for Elsbree Estates. It just happened to be the
spot Elsbree had used as a manure dump. “So our joke was that you
never know what you’re going to fertilize,” said Smith.
“The town won’t be the same without her.”
She was predeceased by the late Charles N. “Pat” Elsbree. She
was the mother of Charles Elsbree & wife, Diana; Don Elsbree
and wife, Kay; Jack Elsbree; Patty Timmsen and husband, Ron;
Candace Bailey and husband Brian. She was the grandmother of 12:
Charles, Michael, Tina, Michelle, Davida, Heidi, Jessica, Rachael,
Patrick, Christopher, Jennifer and the late Michael Ricaud. She was
also the great grandmother of five: Amelia, Wesley, Vanessa, Sayla
and Rose.
The family requests donations in her memory be made to the
Windsor Historical Society or the Windsor Boys & Girls
Club.
