Elizabeth Nixon Mace

Elizabeth Nixon Mace, aged 79, died on September 13, 2024 in McLean, Virginia. She was born August 29, 1945 in Charlotte, North Carolina to Stanley Jones Nixon and Rachel Holland Grier Nixon. On August 22, 1976, she married Gilbert Wallace Mace.

She received a bachelor's degree in education from Coker College in South Carolina and a Masters degree in Comparative Cultures from Georgetown University in Washington DC.

She was an avid reader and educator. She taught high school in Prince Georges County, Maryland; Community College in Denver, Colorado; Department of Defense Dependent School in Keflavik, Iceland; and the International School of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Elizabeth enjoyed outdoor activities: she was an archer; she did some rock climbing and was an avid hiker in her younger days. She hiked up Pikes Peak and Mt. Fuji (at different times).

Elizabeth loved dancing and performing. During college she worked as a Go-Go dancer in Myrtle Beach to earn money. While in college she took drama classes and used this knowledge while directing plays for the Oklahoma City Theater group. She also performed in numerous productions, most notably Peter Pan and A Midsummer Night's Dream. While in the Netherlands she performed with and assisted in the production of various shows as part of the Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT) Alliance Players.

A consumer of contemporary music, Elizabeth found joy in staying current with generational lingo, and generally keeping her ear to the ground when it came to youth culture. This helped her to excel as a teacher and certainly strengthened relationships with her children and it heartened her about the future. 

She loved to travel and visit new sites and cultures. She has lived in Antigua, Japan, Mexico, Iceland, England, Italy and for 16 years in the Netherlands. She has traveled throughout Europe with a visit to Egypt thrown in for good measure. She spoke Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and attempted to learn Dutch.

Elizabeth was very proud of her volunteer work in transporting HIV patients to medical appointments and working with special needs groups.

She most recently loved watching her grandson compete in various national gymnastics competitions and attending tea parties given by her granddaughter.

She will be missed.

Surviving Elizabeth are her husband Gil; daughters, Rachel Mace of Oakton, Virginia and Charlotte Mace of Maplewood, New Jersey; son, Bennett Mace of Reston Virginia; grandchildren, Britton Mace of Oakton, Virginia and Mathilda Mace of Reston, Virginia; and her brother, Grier Nixon of Conway, South Carolina. She was preceded in death by her parents, Stanley and Rachel Nixon.

Funeral services will be held for Elizabeth on Tuesday, September 24th at Memorial Mountain View Mortuary, 3115 E Bengal Blvd. Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121. A time for viewing and visitation will be held at the Mortuary on Tuesday from 10:00 AM until the time of the service. Interment will be in Memorial Mountain View Cemetery.