Elizabeth Hemphill Topping

Posted 3/22/11

Elizabeth Hemphill Topping of Baltimore, Maryland passed away at home on March 16, 2011 following a year-long battle with lung cancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1936, to George …

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Elizabeth Hemphill Topping

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Elizabeth Hemphill Topping of Baltimore, Maryland passed away at home on March 16, 2011 following a year-long battle with lung cancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1936, to George and Elizabeth Hemphill, “Betsy” grew up in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania and graduated from Germantown Friends School. Betsy was a graduate of Centenary College and the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Brian Barclay Topping; both were members of the Penn class of 1957. Following a short career with Strawbridge & Clothier as an imported goods buyer and Smith Kline & French (now Glaxo SmithKline) as a medical correspondent, Betsy stayed home to raise a family. She moved to Baltimore with her husband and children when he relocated from Philadelphia to become Vice Chairman and Head of the Trust & Investment Division of Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust in Baltimore. Betsy volunteered her time at the Maryland Historical Society, where Brian was President, and was a member of the Baltimore Museum of Art – Friends of the American Wing, Philadelphia Cricket Club, Elkridge Club, and the Mount Vernon Club. Betsy enjoyed spending time at the family’s summer home in Winhall, Vermont and was an avid antique collector (specializing in American schoolgirl needlework) and gardener, as well as a prolific reader. In addition to her husband, she is survived by a brother, George, of Philadelphia, two sons, Stephen, of Baltimore, and Andrew, of Philadelphia, and two grandchildren, Andrew, Jr. and Alexander, both of Philadelphia. The burial services will be private. The family asks that any contributions be made to the Maryland SPCA.

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