Obituary: Elizabeth "Lisa" Carlson, 1938-2023

Author, consumer advocate and educator created websites before most people had even heard about the Web

Published June 9, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.
Updated June 9, 2023 at 8:51 p.m.

Courtesy
Elizabeth "Lisa" Carlson

Elizabeth "Lisa" Carlson died June 4, at age 86. After a colorful, productive life, she chose to remain comfortable in her Hinesburg home, with loving care provided by family, friends and the amazing caregivers from the University of Vermont Home Health and Hospice.

Lisa was born in 1938 in Melrose, Mass. She is widely known for her pioneering work as a consumer advocate and as executive director of the national nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance and, later, the Funeral Ethics Organization. She wrote the book Caring for the Dead and, with co-author Joshua Slocum, Final Rights. In 1995, she assisted Jessica Mitford in updating the best-selling The American Way of Death.

Other pursuits over the years included teaching school in Massachusetts and Vermont, and serving as principal of the school at the old state hospital in Waterbury. Skilled in the building trades, she and her husband built their Hinesburg home and remodeled several others. She provided foster care for numerous, wonderful young Vermonters. Back in the 1960s, she ran a restaurant in Plainfield, The Hungry Pig and I. She created websites before most other people even heard about the Web and provided user help for business software. Other ventures included beetle taxidermy, fishing-worm sales and installing built-in vacuums.

Survivors include her husband, Steve Carlson; son Stuart Mercer and daughter-in-law, Mary Kelly Mercer; daughter, Joie Brackett-Reeves; son Shawn Brackett; stepson, Joshua Carlson; stepdaughter, Rosalie Carlson; brothers Edward Shippen and Eugene Shippen; sister-in-law, Laura Brackett; and grandchildren, Matthew, Liam and Ellie Mercer, Ellisa and Kadia Cox-Brackett, and Kolbey Brackett.

Lisa’s body was donated to the University of Vermont Anatomical Gift Program and was transported by Stephen C. Gregory & Son. The family will plan a memorial gathering during the coming months. If you wish to send condolences and/or be notified about the gathering, please contact Steve Carlson at [email protected].