Elizabeth “Boo” Andrews

Elizabeth “Boo” Andrews 1949 – 2022 BRUNSWICK – Elizabeth Andrews died unexpectedly and peacefully at home in Brunswick in the early morning of June 10, 2022, two weeks after coming home from a three-month trip on the west coast. Elizabeth was born on March 18, 1949 to Elizabeth “Betty” Whorf and Oliver Andrews, Jr. in Lewiston. Betty and Ollie were divorced in the early 1950s and the family spent time at Betty’s parents’ home in Winchester, Mass., then Marion, Mass. Betty met and married Brooks Hawkins in Marion. The family relocated to Connecticut in the late 1950s. Elizabeth attended local elementary schools in Middletown and East Haddam, then went on to Northfield School in Mt. Hermon, Mass., and finally the MacDuffie School in Springfield, Mass., graduating in 1967. She then entered the work-study program at Antioch College, graduating with a degree in elementary education. During her work-study years she lived in New York City, worked for WGBH in Boston, and taught Black history at the Institute of Indian Art in Santa Fe. A talented photographer, she lived in Placitas, N.M. while she took photography courses at the University of New Mexico, then travelled around Europe with her sister Rosie for several months. Finally moving to Maine, she met and eventually married her first husband, Ben Ellison, in the mid-1970s. They lived on their sloop, Alice, in Camden Harbor, and took tourists for day sails. She worked with Hurricane Island and obtained her Licensed Coast Guard Captain license for 20-ton sailing vessels. In the late 1970s her daughter Jesse was born. Within the next decade she developed a well-known baby product, a quilted, sleeveless, hooded bunting, known as the “Baby Bag.” The company grew during the 1980s with Eddie Bauer, REI, LL Bean and many others as clients. Her marriage to Ben ended and she moved to Portland with Jesse, eventually meeting her husband Leonard Commet Krill on a blind date. They married and moved to a Victorian farmhouse in Cumberland, renovating the attached barn into the Baby Bag offices. During this time Elizabeth began to have long term medical issues which resulted in her deciding to part with the Baby Bag and all of its demands. She sold it and focused her energies on her health issues. Elizabeth and Leonard sold their home, moving to a rental in Phippsburg, Maine. They subsequently moved and built a new home in the Two Echo Cohousing Community in Brunswick. Elizabeth’s natural warmth and compassion for others became the core of her life activity after settling into their home at Two Echo. She was active in Two Echo community affairs, always busy helping others but also constrained by her ongoing struggle with her health. Elizabeth leaves a family loving and bereft, and a saddened and wide circle of friends in Maine and around the country. She is survived by her husband of 34 years, Leonard Commet Krill of Brunswick; her daughter, Jesse Andrews Ellison of Camden; her brother Oliver “Andy” Andrews III of Phippsburg; her sister, Rosie Andrews of Berkeley, Calif. and Washington, Maine; and beloved in-laws and nieces and nephews in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Washington, Nuuk (Greenland), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Trondheim (Norway). Elizabeth was a ferocious and, recently, livid supporter of Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights. Supporting organizations and politicians that work to support women would be fitting and make her very happy. The family will hold an Elizabeth Celebration on Sept. 17 in Brunswick. Use this link to be notified of specifics as they develop https://tinyurl.com/Elizabeth2022. A more detailed obituary is online at legacy.com.