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Elizabeth Lindley Post, Etiquette Author, Successor to Emily Post, Dies at 89

After the death of Emily Post in 1960, Elizabeth Post assumed responsibility for carrying on the Post family tradition of writing and teaching about etiquette. She quickly became, and remained for the next thirty years, America's leading authority on etiquette.

Elizabeth Post authored books on wedding etiquette, children's etiquette, entertaining and others, and was often invited to appear on television and radio. Mrs. Post penned a popular column in Good Housekeeping magazine as well as a syndicated newspaper column. She began her tenure during a time when many Americans embraced an "anything goes" mentality and shunned social mores. She witnessed a blossoming interest in manners as the flower children of the sixties aged.

"Etiquette is meant to smooth the path between people to better relationships," Mrs. Post said. "It isn't meant to be something restrictive or unpleasant." She drew upon her personal interactions with readers and the thousands of letters she received each year to make her advice more practical, direct and contemporary. She was the first Post author to tackle such subjects as public breastfeeding, how to introduce same-sex couples and the etiquette of second and third weddings.

In 1992, one reporter described Mrs. Post this way: "Post strives to be human, the neighbor you would chat with across the fence. She is as she is in print, polite, informed and not at all snobbish."

In the early 1990s, Mrs. Post began to groom a successor, her own daughter-in-law Peggy Post, who has authored the 16th and 17th editions of Emily Post's Etiquette. Other Post family members soon followed suit as The Emily Post Institute experienced unprecedented growth. Mrs. Post's daughter Cindy Post Senning, EdD, her son Peter Post and daughter-in-law Tricia Post joined the company in the late 1990s, adding a business etiquette book and business etiquette seminars, a web site and manners books for children to the company's products and services.

Mrs. Post was very proud of the organization's growth with her children and, more recently grandchildren, becoming the country's leading etiquette writers, teachers and experts. Mrs. Post's grandchildren Anna Post, Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning mark the fifth generation of Posts to join the Institute.

Mrs. Post was born in Englewood, New Jersey, on May 7, 1920, the third of Allen Ledyard Lindley and Elizabeth Ellsworth Lindley's three children. She lived in Englewood until 1941, when she married George Eustis Cookman, who was killed in action in the Pacific in 1943. In 1944 she married William Goadby Post, the only grandchild of Emily Post. The couple enjoyed 65 years of marriage which, along with her children, was the central element of her life and a source of inspiration to all who knew her.

Mr. and Mrs. Post resided in Bogota, Colombia in the early 1950s with their growing family. They then moved to Rye, New York, where they raised their four children. They followed their children to Vermont in the mid-1970s, settling in Waterbury Center. The couple spent the winter months first in Marathon, Florida, and finally in Naples, Florida.

Mrs. Post was also an artist, her specialty being watercolors. Her artwork graces the walls of her family's and friend's homes, as well as those of collectors. She exhibited frequently in art shows. Mrs. Post often donated paintings and other pieces to charity auctions. She was an accomplished golfer and an avid fisherman. One year, she landed the largest tarpon caught by a woman in the United States. She was particularly proud of the day she and her husband, Bill each registered a "grand slam" on the flats of the Florida Keys, a rare feat for one person much less for two in the same boat on the same day. Mr. and Mrs. Post were also avid SCUBA divers and made numerous trips to exotic parts of the world to pursue the clearest waters and the most colorful fish.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Post is survived by her four children and their spouses: Allen Post and Peggy, Bill Post, Jr. and Maureen, Cindy Senning and John, and Peter Post and Tricia. She is also survived by her eight grandchildren, their spouses and one great-grandson: Casey Post; Jeep Post and his wife, Jessica; Peter Post and his wife, Elizabeth Archangeli and great-grandson, Alexander; Jill Ravey; Dan Senning; Will Senning; Anna Post; and Lizzie Post. She was predeceased in 1987 by her grandson, Paul. She is also survived by her niece, Betsy Lindley Bird, and her nephews Dan Lindley and Pete Lindley, and by numerous great nephews and nieces.

Services will be held in both Naples, Florida, and Waterbury, Vermont.

SOURCE Emily Post Institute