As a mild-mannered, founding member of our Fellowship, Elizabeth Robinson leads a life filled with many talents and interests. She has a YouTube channel with 1,300 videos and 6,000 subscribers, and growing. She also devours about a book a day of 200 to 300 pages on her e-reader, mostly of fantasy and contemporary romance.

This woman of many talents moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1960 with her parents from New Haven, Connecticut. Elizabeth was a preschooler when her father had accepted a position at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He had been at Yale University, and he and Elizabeth’s mother, Patricia (Pat) Robinson (also BVUUF founding member), were involved with the Universalist church in New Haven, because they wanted to be part of the vote to join the Universalists and the Unitarians. Now, that’s some good history!

Now in Boulder County, Elizabeth recalled being a very young child attending religious education at the Carriage House, near the Boulderado Hotel, for the Boulder Unitarian church in the early 1960s. The adults were in the Shambhala house on Spruce, a block away. From 1962 to 1963, the Boulder Unitarian church constructed their current building, which is at 5001 Pennsylvania. Over the next decade and a half, Elizabeth was a member of the youth group, and also served as a Board member. At that point, the church did not have the age ceremonies like we do now at BVUUF.

Then, from 1976 to 1979, a group of members decided to break off from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder (UUCB) to create what is now our fellowship, Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, here in Lafayette. Elizabeth calls herself, “the youngest oldest member” of BVUUF, the youngest founding member from 1979.

As for her YouTube channel, it all started with her reading aloud to her and her husband’s (Peter Sartucci’s) daughter, Rachel, now age 25, who is wheelchair bound, and has some intellectual limitations from birth. Elizabeth said Rachel initially watched Elizabeth read. Over time, Rachel ventured into asking Elizabeth some questions. The two of them record about ten to 15 episodes a week with viewers from all over the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even South Korea! The stories are about things Rachel can understand, something that might help South Koreans speak English words. What a wonderful world! As for the material, publicists send Elizabeth various books each month, books that are of new writers needing exposure. Again, what a wonderful world!

Another talent and interest of Elizabeth’s is with costumes and sewing. So, in her past, she was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA), which is an “…inclusive community pursuing research and re-creation of pre-seventeenth century skills, arts, combat and culture. The lives of participants are enriched as we gain knowledge of history through activities, demonstrations, and events,” according to their website . Making costumes and engaging in the SCA activities certainly satisfied her passion for creativity.

Building on her interests, as a woman with a pagan persuasion, she loves all things of the earth, since all things natural come out of Mother Earth. For a while, Elizabeth attended the BVUUF Wise Women circle, a group that meets once a month, over Zoom for now, for all female identified people. The group studies an array of goddesses, the Celtic wheel of the year, and forthright women in history, such as Sacagawea for this month of November, among many other topics, all to help women embrace their worth and beauty.

To this day, Elizabeth is a member of the Handweavers Guild of Boulder, although she no longer weaves on her loom. She did enjoy spinning and weaving, but with marriage, and eventually a special needs child, after their son Gregory, she had to leave the paid work world, and relinquish her weaving, and Wise Women and SCA activities. Nowadays, you might find Elizabeth beading, doing cross-stitch, or needlepoint. Currently, she is sewing cross-stitch on linen napkins she found at a thrift store. The price tags were even still attached, reading, “Macy’s 29¢.” Now, that’s a find!

And what a “find” Elizabeth is, with her many creative talents and interests. These grant her durability in her challenging life. Even COVID-19 cannot get her down. She still does cross-stitch, beading, and needlepoint, as well as reading essentially a book a day, and recording her YouTube videos each week! She and her family endure and flourish together with their son Gregory back home (since February), and husband Peter continuing to work from home as he has for the last 25 years! Elizabeth and her family remain creative and grounded, traits that help anyone to endure!