Elizabeth Sherwood - Character of the Month

Elizabeth Sherwood is an elegant and sophisticated middle class woman in her late 30s who teaches English at the School of the Arts. It is very important to her that her student write and speak English properly and often is looking for ways to keep her students motivated.  She has a passion for teaching and is very precise about what she expects from others but is kind and compassionate and always willing to give help and advice.

Hailing from a large Southern family, Elizabeth lives alone in an Apartment in New York City. She is in frequent contact with her mother by phone.

In college in the 60s, where she majored in English and minored in Drama, Elizabeth was active in rallies and sits ins protesting social injustice. We discover in “Hail To The Chief” that one such sit in led to her being arrested, although the charges were later dropped.     

She passionately fights for democracy and equality and in “Tomorrow’s Children” even goes as far as quitting her job for the sake of her principals. In “The Strike” we discover that she is also the union rep for the school.  

At times she does have a bit of a temper and as in “The Crazies” where she swaps classes with Miss Grant, she will accept a challenge without thinking it through.

In “But Seriously Folks” we see that she jogs to school as part of her keep fit regime.

Before we meet Elizabeth we discover that she was married and divorced and In “And The Winner Is” we discover that her ex Husband Nick, died of cancer. It is implied that Elizabeth has very little contact with her in laws as none of them even informed her that Nick was ill.  

In “Blizzard” we discover at some point she was pregnant but had a miscarriage.

With her passion for English and reading, Elizabeth enjoys writing novels and poetry.  In “Such Good Friends” we discover that she has spent 4 years working on a historical Novel but struggles to get it published. We also discover that her favourite colour is yellow, well until she keeps getting yellow rejection slips from publishers.  After some advice from Mrs Berg she decides to start writing a trashy romance novel.

In “Back to Something New” we discover that Elizabeth has left the School of the Arts and relocated to Maine after the success of her first book “School of Desire”.

Elizabeth returns to visit for Alumni week at the end of that school year.