Elizabeth (Libby) York Enstam

Elizabeth (Libby) York Enstam, 85 died in Dallas TX, September 15, 2022.  She was born Mary Elizabeth York on July 1, 1937, to Mary Alexander and John Davis York in Mount Airy, NC.  Her grandparents were Esther Elvina and Wesley A. York of Beulah, NC.  Libby was a salutatorian in 1955 senior class of Mount Airy High School, where she was president of the student council (likely the first girl elected to that office), accompanist for the school’s glee club, and feature editor for the school paper.  She was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Mount Airy.  For 5 years, she studied piano with Rebecca Pendleton.  In 1959 she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wake Forest University (then college), where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  Although her major field for the Bachelor of Arts degree was history, she studied piano 4 years with Christopher Giles and played a senior recital “just because she wanted to.”  A year later, she earned a Master of Arts degree from Emory University and in 1968, the Ph.D degree from Duke University.  Over the years, she taught at Wake Forest, Brooklyn College of the City of New York, Brookhaven Community College in Dallas, and as an adjunct professor of history at Southern Methodist University.  In 1963 she married Raymond Anders Enstam of New Britain, CT, and lived for a time in New York City, where their daughter, Gwendolyn Elizabeth, was born. In 1968 the family moved to Dallas, TX.  In 1998, Texas A&M University Press published her book, “Women and The Creation of Urban Life,” which won 3 history prizes and was a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters. She also published numerous articles in the history journals.  Her husband and her daughter were always her greatest joy, along with visits to her original family in Surry County.  She traveled to Canada and to several European countries a number of times, but throughout her life returned to Mount Airy and the Blue Ridge Mountains at least twice each year.  The long, blue range across the western horizon and the vast, deep silence over the ageless, rugged slopes never lost their magic for her.  She loved the fields and clear streams on her family’s property in springtime and the glory of the hardwood trees in the fall.  In the words of Roseanne Cash, “She left, but never went away.”  She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Raymond A. Enstam of Dallas, Tx, and her daughter, Dr. Gwendolyn E. Enstam of Edinburgh, Scotland.  She leaves behind two brothers, John A. York and sister-in-law, Lucy B. York of Richmond, VA; and Joseph N. York of Melbourne Fl; along with nieces and nephews and numerous cousins, among them Nancy Wrenn Montgomery of Winston-Salem and Kyle Montgomery of York Farms at Beulah.  Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM, Monday, September 26, 2022, at Moody Funeral Home Chapel in Mt. Airy, NC conducted by Wilborn Rives.  Burial will follow at Oakdale Cemetery.  The family will receive friends at the funeral home Sunday evening, September 25, 2022, from 6:00 until 8:00 PM.  Online condolences may be made at www.moodyfuneralservices.com.