DLD| Elizabeth Crozer Campbell | Ep 100

In this special celebration episode, I'm reading excerpts from 'The Desert Was Home', a book by an original Desert Lady, Elizabeth Crozer Campbell.

 

If you’re unfamiliar, Elizabeth, or Betts, as her husband called her, she was born in Beach Haven, NJ – so of course I felt an immediate kinship with her.

Elizabeth Warder Crozer, was born the youngest of four daughters, in 1893 and died in 1971. She was raised in Upland, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a wealthy family and her education through her post graduate studies were in private schools. She met Bill, an orphan from Los Angeles, at a west coast wedding, where they were both in the bridal party. As the story goes, it was love at first sight and they themselves married in 1920, even with the disapproval of Elizabeth's family.

 

They initially lived in Pasadena and Linda Vista, but Bill’s health issues, stemming from his involvement in WWI, found them desperate to find a place where he could heal… that is where ‘The Desert Was Home’ begins.

 

Visit the Campbell House website (from which the photo of Betts and Bill came) for a glimpse of the modern day Campbell House and learn more about Betts and Bill's love story, which also became their love affair with the desert.

 

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into early life here in the Mojave desert from one of it's original homesteaders.