Elliott, Amanda
Amanda (nee Smith) Elliott, of Arlington Heights, Ill., and formerly of Palatine, passed away on December 21, 2023. She was 92. Amanda was born in 1931, in Petersburg, Va., and grew up on Osage Farm, part of her extended family’s florist business (A.G. Smith & Son). She graduated from Flora Macdonald College, in Red Springs, N.C. (now part of St. Andrews University), majoring in Christian Education. On what friends hailed a “blind-date success story” in an FMC yearbook, Amanda met Charles Elliott, a student at a nearby college. In 1953—after his military service and her first job as Director of Christian Education at the North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Presbyterian Church— they married and settled in Charlotte and, later, in Kansas City, Mo. They and their children—Diane (Giannis), Edith, and Chuck—moved to Palatine in 1969, where Amanda and Charles lived until 2000. She was active in a variety of education and adult groups at the Palatine Presbyterian Church, where she had been a member since 1970. She became a member of Southminster Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights in 2017. In the ’70s and ’80s, Amanda served as a teacher’s assistant and tutor in District 15 elementary schools. Following Charles’s retirement, Amanda and he spent nearly 30 years traveling the world. She loved opera and theatre in Chicago, which she and Charles took in for decades. And she loved her final residence at The Moorings, a senior living community in Arlington Heights, where she participated in and led book clubs and other activities. Her home’s back windows looked out at The Moorings’ landmark circular barn and the gardens and flowerbeds nearby—scenes reminiscent of her beginnings. Amanda delighted in life’s blessings, however small; she was all ebullience and graciousness in the company of her family and friends; she loved life and everyone in it, and they loved her back—dearly. In addition to Charles and her children, she is survived by son-in-law Pete Giannis, daughter-in-law Margaret Sullivan, grandson Matt (Karolina) Giannis (and great-grandchildren Felix, Julian, and Clara), and grandson Mark Giannis; as well as her much-loved “second family,” among them sister-in-law Eleanor (McCaskill), and many nieces and nephews and their children. Visitation will be held on December 28, 2023, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., at 320 W. Central Rd., at Northwest Highway, Mt. Prospect, Ill., 60056. Arrangements are pending for a service celebrating her life. Funeral information (847) 255-7800 or www. friedrichsfh.com.