Elaine Elvig Connell
1929 - Dec. 7, 2016
Born in North Dakota, Elaine was raised in Lawrence, Kansas where she later attended the University of Kansas. It was there that she met the man she would marry, James Connell. They were each rush chairmen for their respective fraternities, she as a Kappa Kappa Gamma and he as a Sigma Chi. Together they planned a mixer. The rest is history.
The two married shortly after Jim earned his B.A. and received his commission as an Ensign in the US Navy as the Korean War started. Based briefly in San Francisco, they fell in love with the city where they settled after Jim completed his service.
Elaine completed her B.A. and earned her Teaching Credential; she then taught in San Francisco public middle schools for eighteen years while she and her husband raised three children. Early in her marriage, the act of cooking transitioned from a basic necessity to a passion, one that would endure for the rest of Elaine’s life to the benefit of friends and family.
Upon her retirement, Elaine became a docent at the Asian Art Museum (AAM) where she served for over twenty-five years. Concurrently, she and her husband began collecting Asian art. An ardent supporter of the museum, she had leadership roles on most of its committees and was appointed by successive San Francisco mayors to represent the museum as a Commissioner, a position she occupied for nineteen years. In 1993, she founded the popular Storytelling Corps, a groundbreaking program for its time and unique to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. It continues to this day. According to Jay Xu, Director of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, “Elaine’s devotion and service at every level distinguished her as one of the museum’s most effective ambassadors, making a memorable impression on everyone she met.” Elaine’s support for the arts extended to World Arts West and the Craft and Folk Art Museum on whose boards she sat.
Elaine and her late husband, Jim, gifted to the AAM their collections of Thai ceramics and South East Asian tribal jewelry. She and Jim hosted dealers, fellow collectors, artists and scholars in their home. Ever elegant and stylish, she was featured by Bill Cunningham (famed New York Times photographer) in his column several times while attending New York’s Asia Week.
Known for her wit, vibrancy, and sense of fun and adventure, Elaine liked nothing better than to spend the day and evening with her close friends skylarking. In more recent years, she delved into jazz and opera and explored new food trends.
She was taken from us too soon and passed away peacefully surrounded by her family.
Elaine is survived by her three children, Kate (Oscar Melara), James (Tien Bui), and Beth; her grandchildren Audrey and Erik Connell; her siblings Jack Elvig (Ruth) and Libby Shinn (Dave), sister-in-law Carol Thurston (Peter) and their children and grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the James J. Connell Fund for Southeast Asian Art, Asian Art Museum (415-581-3781) 200 Larkin Street, S.F. CA 94102.
A commemoration of Elaine’s life is being planned for the spring.