Elsie Coss
Since she was a small child losing herself in books in her one-room schoolhouse library, Elsie dreamed of travel. With money saved from her very first job as a public-school teacher, Elsie began her travel adventures with a trans-Atlantic crossing on the Queen Elizabeth. She loved it, and travel became part of her life. The founding of Sojourner in 1982 with her brother Randall was a natural extension of her love of adventure. Elsie approached each buying trip with the philosophy that she wanted to make friends through doing business together. It is this spirit that continues to imbue the buying trips now taken by her daughter and current Sojourner owner, Amy.
Sojourner was Elsie’s love and passion for 42 years. She’s remembered for her friendliness, her helpfulness, her ready laugh, and her willingness to take on the seemingly impossible repair of a much-loved piece of jewelry. Amy joined her mother as her partner in 1990 and worked alongside her, learning and creating, until Elsie’s passing in December 2023.
Always artistic, Elsie conquered dollhouse making and painting before taking on beading in her 50s. But that did not stop her from amassing an awesome collection of tribal beads and all sorts of other beads that we always jokingly referred to as her bead greed. Amy has inherited that collection and intends to augment it and to continue the tradition of using these treasurers from all over the world to create necklaces for you.
Visiting the Sojourner was often as much about a visit with Elsie as it was a shopping trip. Her welcome made Sojourner as much a community center as it is a store. Her sense of humor with a touch of bawdiness was well-known throughout town. Her love of children and her infinite patience with them as she taught them to bead was a treasure not easily replaced. Her joyful laugh would ring out through the store, and you just felt better because she was there.
We miss her every day and know you will, too. But know that we are committed to carrying on her spirit of goodwill and making friends through commerce. Elsie would want us to keep laughing.
Elsie was a tireless supporter of the Shad Fest Poster Auction Scholarship. The Scholarship awards two $10,000 scholarships to local students going on to pursue a degree in the fine or performing arts. An artist’s award has been established in her name. If you would like to contribute to the Elsie Coss Prize for Artistic Excellence, you can send a check to: Delaware River Towns Charities, PO 222, Lambertville, NJ 08530. Please write Elsie in the memo line.
