Elizabeth Carson (nee Law), from Haddington near Edinburgh, surrendered a career in medicine in order to give her full time to MRA/Initiatives of Change. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, she and her late husband, Melville, were gracious hosts at 44 Charles Street in Mayfair, London, a residential centre of MRA.
Elizabeth excelled in her ability to care for people and all aspects of running such a large home—hostessing, cooking, flower arranging and organizing accommodation for countless groups who came to London to see the contemporary Christian plays of MRA staged at the Westminster Theatre.
Elizabeth Law was born in Aberdeen on 16 July 1928, the daughter of distinguished artists from Dundee. Accepted for a place to study medicine at Edinburgh University in 1946, she attended the opening of the Caux centre of MRA in Switzerland that summer. 'There was a sense of urgency in building a new world,' following World War II, she commented. She decided to offer her services to work with MRA.
For seven years she was the guardian to three Scottish children while their parents went on trips abroad with MRA.
From London, she and Melville accepted an invitation from American colleagues to work with MRA in the USA. They welcomed Melville’s accountancy skills.
They based in Washington DC for 10 years and became close friends of the African American mezzo-soprano singer Muriel Smith who had retired to Richmond VA. Smith, who died of cancer, made Elizabeth the executor of her will.
The Carsons retired to Haddington. Elizabeth died peacefully on 8 August 2021 in East Lothian Community Hospital, aged 93. They had no children and she is survived by several nieces, a nephew and several cousins.
