Elizabeth Brownell Oakman Golden, RN, Long-time resident of Cohasset and Marshfield MA, Liz Golden passed away peacefully with her children by her side at her treasured Bay Village in Sarasota FL on March 18th. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend, Elizabeth was born on the Nelson Farm in Marshfield in 1915 to Philip and Sadie Oakman. As a child she was surrounded by a large extended family of Oakmans, Nourses, Hatches, Damons, and Tildens. All too familiar with the chores of a working farm, Elizabeth preferred the pleasures of country living: picnicking along the North River, swimming at Brant Rock, sledding down Nelson Hill and skating on the Oakman Pond. Elizabeth graduated valedictorian from Marshfield High School in 1933 and attended University of Maine, a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority, until her father's death and the Great Depression forced her to withdraw. She proceeded to graduate as valedictorian of her 1936 class at Worcester City Hospital School of Nursing.
Until her marriage to the renowned South Shore attorney Irwin Golden in 1944, Liz worked as a registered nurse for her brother-in-law Dr. Clifford Danforth in Weymouth. Those were the days of making house calls and removing tonsils on kitchen tables. In addition to her professional nursing duties, she continued using her skills volunteering for the Red Cross and Cohasset's Civil Defense. Raising her children in Cohasset, Liz served for years as room mother and scout leader for her children and their friends. She helped found the Explorer's Club and spent hours acquainting the next generation with the woods, marshes, and tidal pools at their doorstep. She was an avid birdwatcher and lifelong member of the National Audubon Society. She often nursed back to health injured wildlife, including turtles, rabbits, and birds. Many summers she spent with her husband Irwin boating and fishing in the waters off the coast of Cohasset and Martha's Vineyard.
Proud of her Mayflower lineage, Liz also understood the hardships of newcomers to this country and welcomed all to her legendary Thanksgiving dinners. Her six-times great-grandmother, Rebecca Nourse, a pillar of the Salem community, had been hanged as a witch in 1692, and Liz would often quote the Nourse coat-of-arms, "By courage, not by cunning!" True to her word, Liz displayed courage and conviction wearing her Red Sox cap while surrounded by Yankee fans and fearlessly campaigning for President Obama while greatly outnumbered by her Republican friends at her retirement community.
In her "Golden Years", Liz enjoyed traveling, bowling, and golfing with the "Oakman Sisters": Virginia Garland of Duxbury MA and the late Phyllis Danforth and Anstrice Van Keuren, both of Weymouth. She is also predeceased by her parents, Philip and Sadie Oakman and sister Louise, of Marshfield.
Elizabeth will be deeply missed by her three children Jane C. Krone, Oak Hill VA, William B. Golden, West Falmouth MA and Meredith L. Golden, New City NY; her children-in-law Peter Krone, Kristen Golden, Bob Chen and Paula Golden; her grandchildren Brigham Golden and Lynn Rawden, Bethany and Ben Golden, & Braden Golden, Elizabeth, Rebecca, & Philip Krone, and Bryce & Kathryn Golden-Chen; and her great grandchildren Zella & Lazar Golden; her dear sister-in-law Daphne Glassman, Falmouth MA; plus numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Visiting hours

Omitted.

Service Information

A Celebration of Life service will be held at the First Parish Unitarian Church in Cohasset, MA on Saturday, July 10th at 2 pm. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to the National Audubon Society or to ICAS Juntos Adelante a women's health and human rights consortium co-founded by her grand-daughter Bethany Golden. (http://juntosadelante.org/).