Obituary of Elizabeth Meissner Gaynor

Elizabeth Meissner Gaynor, Founder of Connecticut Dance School, died peacefully at

her home in Southport on Dec. 21, after a short illness. The cause of death was heart

failure: she was 96 years old.

Elizabeth grew up in Chatham, New Jersey. Her mother, Elizabeth Northrup Meissner,

was a schoolteacher from Elmira, New York, who had started her career in a one-room

schoolhouse that Elizabeth would later restore and donate to the local historical society.

Her father, C. Robert Meissner, was an electrical engineer born in Hamburg, Germany

who worked at Bell Laboratories developing vacuum tube and microwave technologies.

Playing in the woods and meadows near their home and on family camping trips in

New Hampshire, Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret developed a life-long love

of the outdoors.

Elizabeth graduated from Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey, and earned a B.A.

in Philosophy from Wheaton College in 1950. After graduation, she taught elementary

school in the public and private school systems in the Boston area. During those

summers, she lived on Cape Cod, first running an arts camp for children, then fishing for

lobster with her own boat. "Lobsterwoman" was such an unusual occupation that she

was a contestant on the television quiz show What's My Line?

She met her future husband, Edwin Gaynor, on a blind date in Marblehead Harbor — on

a sailboat. Edwin, who recently graduated from Yale, was living aboard his 28' foot ketch

pursuing graduate studies at M.I.T. Sailing would become a huge part of their lives. For

almost sixty years, they cruised the New England coast every summer. Eventually, on

larger vessels named Emil,y they sailed, along with family and friends, from their

homeport in Southport to more adventurous destinations including Newfoundland and

the rough ocean waters off Bermuda. Elizabeth was a blue water sailor who completed

fifteen passages from Bermuda to Southport. She was also an experienced racer who

often cooked for a crew of ten on weekend-long, round-the-clock races.

They married in 1955. Edwin joined his father's business producing fluorescent wiring

devices and soon, with Elizabeth's help, established his own factory. In 1960 they

bought the house in Southport that would be their home for the rest of their lives and

where they raised their three children.

Around 1965, at a friend's suggestion, Elizabeth took a ballet class. Dance soon

became a daily activity. Elizabeth immersed herself in her new passion, seeking out

classes and instructors, reading extensively, and attending performances in New York.

When her younger daughter, Emily, showed talent, Elizabeth sought serious training for

her. Finding local studios lacking, she transformed her basement into a ballet studio and

started teaching classes herself. To raise and maintain her own standards, she studied

at the Royal Academy of Dance and became a certified R.A.D. teacher. This required

annual trips to London for further training and an annual examination of her students by

an R.A.D. official. The school grew and evolved into the Southport Ballet School, the

Connecticut Ballet Theatre School, and, for the past thirty years, the Connecticut Dance

School. A distinguished faculty now teaches the ABT National Curriculum. The school

has a pre-professional division and offers a variety of classes, along with classical

ballet, to over 250 students of all ages. Its annual performances of full-length

Nutcracker at the Regina A. Quick Center brings ballet to a large audience.

Elizabeth was a highly accomplished oil painter who led a painting group in the studio

that had once housed her school. Her home was filled with her Impressionistic

canvasses, often of seascapes. Elizabeth was also an avid skier starting in the 1950s

until well into her eighties, and a Pilates devotee. She was an excellent cook — family

dinners often included Julia Child's challenging recipes — and an early adopter of local,

organic food.

Her husband and her daughter, Emily Rothman, predeceased her. She is survived by her

elder daughter Eliza Minden, her son Hewitt Gaynor, her sister Margaret Evans, and six

grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be sent to The Connecticut

Dance School, a non-profit 501(c)3, at 42 Halley Court, Fairfield, CT 06825

 

A graveside committal service will take place on Tuesday, January 7, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Elm Grove Cemetery, 

197 Greenmanville Ave, Mystic, Connecticut.

 

For travel directions or to sign Elizabeth's online guest register, please visit www.LeskoFuneralHome.com.