Updated: 2/16/2008

As published in the San Jose Mercury, January 19, 2008

Elizabeth Brunhoff Hover Passed away surrounded by her family on November 16, 2007, of cancer. She was 81.  Beloved wife of 57 years of Wade Hampton Hover of Saratoga, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Cherished mother of Sally Behel, of Portland, Oregon, Julia Hover-Smoot of Morgan Hill, California, David Hover of San Francisco, California, Teresa Korol of San Anselmo, California. Much loved grandmother of Katherine and Philip Hover-Smoot, Henry and James Behel and Samuel, Tatum and Harper Korol. She was also the loved sister of Marjorie Lutz of Guilford, Connecticut and nieces Lise Orr of New Jersey and Jean Orr of Guilford, Connecticut.

Elizabeth, "Bet", was born to Henry Edward and Jean Gravett Brunhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 5, 1926. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1948 with a bachelor's degree in Art History. In 1950 she married Wade Hampton Hover in Delray Beach, Florida. They took a drive across the country to California for their honeymoon and briefly considered living in southern California before settling in San Jose. They moved to Saratoga in 1963 where she lived until 2000. Since that time she has resided in San Francisco and in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bet's lifelong passion was for painting. She painted over five hundred paintings in her lifetime. Accomplished in oil, acrylics and drawing, she particularly enjoyed working in the difficult medium of watercolor. Her favorite subjects were landscapes, which reflected her love of being in natural settings. She frequently painted the piñon forest and aspen groves of the high desert southwest, Yosemite scenes, and snowy Alpine peaks. She also painted sailboats on calm and stormy seas and in safe harbors. She exhibited her paintings in Los Gatos and Saratoga, California, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Okayama City, Japan. Her work has been collected worldwide. In 2002 she was commissioned to create paintings that are on display in the city of Okayama, Japan. She donated proceeds from sales of her paintings in Japan to start a battered women's shelter in Okayama City. Bet was a member of the Los Gatos Art Society, and the Watercolorists of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bet and her husband, Wade, who practiced law in Santa Clara County for 56 years, were part of a generation that established a new vision for San Jose as it emerged from its agricultural roots. Bet was a member of the Service League of San Jose in the 1950's, the group that later became the Junior League. She and her husband joined efforts in the formation and nurturing of a Sister City program between San Jose and Okayama, Japan, in 1959. Bet became hostess to hundreds of Japanese visitors, including students, businesspeople, and dignitaries. Bet was a member of the Montalvo Center for the Arts Service Group, which raised money for Montalvo in support of its efforts to subsidize living arrangements for emerging artists. Bet was also a member of the Foothill Club of Saratoga.

Bet had a sharp and observant mind and in many ways was ahead of her time. She believed from an early age that healthy eating and daily vigorous exercise could reliably ensure good health and vitality. She was an outspoken advocate for equal treatment for women years before these ideas became popular. Bet strongly supported numerous arts organizations and held a belief that arts education and experience are vital to flexibility of mind. She supported efforts to maintain wilderness in California and New Mexico, believing it essential to the health of the human spirit.

An outstanding athlete throughout her entire life, Bet skied at Lake Tahoe, the western U.S., and Europe. She water skied in the summers at Lake Tahoe and Lake Chelan. She was an avid swimmer and competed in the Northern California Master's swim meet just four months before her death, winning a first-place and two second-place ribbons. She was a brave and accomplished sailor, sailing single-handed in the Bullship Race in the San Francisco Bay and also sailed all over the world, in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Tahiti, Puget Sound, Penobscot Bay and the English Channel. Bet loved to hike. She hiked with friends into Uganda to visit mountain gorillas. She held an honorary invitation as a participant in the Santa Fe Chili and Marching Society of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a group of long-time Santa Fe residents who hike together weekly. Bet celebrated her 80th birthday hiking with her children and grandchildren in the eastern Sierra at Mammoth Lakes, California. She was also an accomplished cyclist.

Bet lived life gracefully and elegantly. She brought her creativity to every task, from cooking meals worthy of a Michelin star, to creating memorable events that touched many, to exquisitely arranging flowers. Her warm spirit, sharp mind and keen sense of humor will be missed by everyone who knew her. She was deeply loved by her family and friends and she will be remembered today and tomorrow and tomorrow. Bet loved to sing and her family will particularly remember her in the words of her favorite song, which became a motto for her life, "Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine, I'll taste your strawberries and drink your sweet wine. A million tomorrows will all pass away, ere I forget, all the joys that are mine, today".

A memorial gathering is planned in Morgan Hill, California, in the spring, at her request, and in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the lilacs bloom. Her ashes will be interred by her family in Saratoga.

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