Obituary of Elizabeth Shreve Ryan

Elizabeth Shreve Ryan, 92, died on Friday, March 1^st, at Carolina Meadows in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she resided with her late husband, John Morris Ryan, since 2003. Born in 1926 in Tampa, FL, she moved to Milledgeville, GA, where she graduated from Georgia State College for Women in 1946. She earned an MA in history from the University of Kentucky in 1947, teaching at Florida State University until her marriage. Together, the Ryans moved to Chapel Hill, NC, where she and her husband pursued graduate degrees. In addition to continuing her studies in history, Mrs. Ryan served as a librarian in the Southern Historical Collection.

Mrs. Ryan was a life-long learner, scholar, and historian who taught classes at the University of Houston and Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement. Her published works include The Hardisons, A Southern Odyssey; Twenty-Fifth Anniversary History of Carolina Meadows; and Orange County Trio, the latter which earned her recognition as a Town Treasure by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 2010. She was also a Christian educator ordained as a lay minister in the UCC and leader of adult education classes at several churches including United Presbyterian Church, Chapel Hill.

She is survived by two daughters, Nancy Elizabeth Ryan and Susan Ryan Sully, and a granddaughter, Frances Portis. Her remains will be interred at Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia. The date of a memorial service at Carolina Meadows will be announced.

The Ryan family is under the care of Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill.  Please express your online condolences by using the tab below.