Maryann Elliott

Maryann Lahey Elliott

Dec. 29, 1925 – Sept. 3, 2025

Maryann Lahey Elliott, a Detroit native whose long, loving marriage took her from coast to coast, died peacefully on Sept. 3, 2025, after a brief illness. She would have been 100 years old in December.

Maryann was born on Dec. 29, 1925, to John A. and Irene Risher Lahey and attended Saint Agnes Catholic Church and School on South LaSalle Gardens. After graduating from the University of Detroit with a degree in commerce and finance, she worked as an accountant for General Motors. She met the love of her life, Frank M. Elliott Jr., at a church function and they were married on her birthday in 1950. The children soon arrived – three in a four-year span – plus a fourth some years later.

Over the years the family successively moved to southern California, to New Jersey, back to California and then to Virginia as her husband’s career advanced. Maryann embraced these adventures and upheavals with aplomb. As her children grew older she found opportunities to serve outside the home no matter where, assisting with girl scout meetings and the PTA; volunteering with a school library; and working in the registrar’s office of her daughter’s high school.

Upon her husband’s retirement the couple moved to State College, Pa., to enjoy the ambience of a college town. After his death she moved to Bethesda, Md., to be near two of her daughters. One final move brought the three of them to Winston-Salem, N.C., to live near her son.

Although life took Maryann far from Detroit, her formative years under the tutelage of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Saint Agnes were indelible. Her children grew up with the aphorisms Maryann learned from Sister Davidica, among them, “Do it once, do it right and do it on time,” and, “Do it now, and when it’s time to do it, it will already be done.”

As a mother, Maryann had the knack for being unfailingly positive. She always believed the best of her children and what they might accomplish, but she was never pushy; just supportive. She gave her children the ability to believe in themselves – and then got out of the way. As a wife, Maryann was an equal partner in a remarkable marriage. She and Frank were the proverbial couple “joined at the hip.” They preferred to do things together rather than apart, be it grocery shopping, working in the yard or keeping track of the family finances. Their devotion to each other set the best possible example for their children.

Maryann was preceded in death by her husband and her three sisters Betty, Jane and Rosemary. She is survived by her children Martha Coulter (Jim) of Boyertown, Pa., and Mary Elizabeth Elliott, Frank M. Elliott III (Alice) and Patricia Elliott, all of Winston-Salem; seven grandchildren: Christine Baumann (Ron) of Pottstown, Pa.; Mary Houck (John) of Harleysville, Pa.; Carolyn Coulter (Frank) of Mount Laurel, N.J.; James Coulter (Megan) of Lansdale, Pa.; Walter Elliott (Hyeyoung) of Andong, South Korea; Samuel Elliott of El Paso, Texas; and Joseph Elliott of Winston-Salem; and four great-grandchildren.

Maryann will be buried next to her husband at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery outside Detroit. Interment will be preceded by a Requiem Mass for extended family in the chapel of Holy Name Catholic Church at 10 a.m. Sept. 18. Visitation at the church will begin that morning at 9:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the IHM Sisters, IHMSisters.org, or the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home at Trellis Supportive Care, www.trellissupport.org.