Elsie Maylott's Obituary
It hardly seems possible that someone so big in life can no longer be here. Our mom Elsie Maylott passed away peacefully at the age of 86 on Saturday June 21. She wouldn’t want a lot of fuss from her family and friends – if you know you know. She was a no-nonsense lady – until you got through to the mushy center. She was the most generous person and loved spending time with her family and friends.
Born and raised in Washington DC, she was a life-long Washingtonian. Raised by her parents Alfred and Agnes, she spent her school years in DC and spent the summers visiting her 51 first cousins and extended family on the ranches and farms near Frazer, Montana where she milked cows, worked the farms, went fishing, and rode horses with her extended family.
She was active through high school and loved to sing and play tennis. After she graduated from Roosevelt High School she attended the University of Cincinnati where she lived with her Aunt Elsie and her namesake. After graduating she moved back to DC with her parents and began a long and fulfilling career at the Library of Congress where she researched copyright claims for books, art and other materials. She met husband Richard at a Sailing class in DC, and after they were married and started their family with twins Kathy and Maggie, they moved to Sterling, Virginia and built a home in Richland Acres, where they were able to settle, and add an additional daughter to the crew (Lisa) and a few animals as well. Initially dogs and cats, and then the occasional chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, sheep and ponies.
She chose to work the early shift at the LOC so she could be home to start the activity runs by 4:00. Catching her carpool by 5:15 AM and arriving to work by 6:30 was the norm for Elsie. Home by 3:30 and then on to horseback riding lessons and gymnastic classes. Elsie’s suburban made the rounds – she would do whatever was needed to support her 3 daughters and then likewise, her grand-children. There wasn’t an event or show or meet she didn’t try to make if she was in town.
She was always active and involved in her 3 daughters’ activities. IT started with 4-H club and carried over to gymnastics, track, and horses with various activities in-between. As a 4-H leader with her co-hort Barbara Sidwar, she fostered a love of animal husbandry (horse and dog clubs of course) with a concentration on community service and made sure the kids gave back to their community by picking up litter, recycling, picking up newspapers and trash from their communities and many other ‘dirty jobs’ to instill a commitment of service in Loudoun County and the broader community. Between coordinating the 4-H Fair and running the food service events and the annual horse show, their acts of service didn’t go unnoticed and they were honored with a 4-H Fair dedication in 1995. In addition, she and Richard helped setup and run a successful gymnastics training facility to support daughter Maggie’s goals of running a business. Leesburg Gymnastics provided a launch pad for a successful small business and a love of gymnastics in Loudoun County that created hundreds of friendships that last to this day.
She had a tight community of work friends at the Library and retired after 30+ years to tackle her next career adventure – setting up and running a dog training business with her husband Richard and their business partners to form “A Click Above”. Her true passion for this started with her first Shetland sheepdog (Sparky) and her first border collie (Noel) and it forged into a love of dog training and agility that would last her entire life. After buying a larger property and moving to Leesburg, they built the dog training facility from the ground up and it stands today as a one-of-a-kind training facility unparallelled in Loudoun County. She spent countless weekends traveling to agility trials with her “A Click Above” and “Flying Dogs” extended communities – a group of people who became like family to her. During the week she taught sold-out classes from puppy to advanced competition classes and everything in between. The friends she made during this period of her career were life changing. They have supported each other through the highs and lows and fostered a love of dog training with positivity and inclusion that you don’t see in many other sports. We are forever grateful for their love and support, and late night coffee runs this group provided to our mom which made her golden years so enjoyable and truly joyous.
She is survived by her beloved family, Kathryn (James) LaViolette, Margaret Mansfield (Leon) Lisa Maylott (Peter) and her grandchildren, Emma, Eliza, Lillian, Gary, Pippa and Fiona and her pups Pipit and Ripper, who will miss her dearly.
What’s your fondest memory of Elsie?
What’s a lesson you learned from Elsie?
Share a story where Elsie's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Elsie you’ll never forget.
How did Elsie make you smile?