Elizabeth Stacy, 86, Ran Hilliard's Candy Business

Elizabeth (Liz) Hilliard Stacy, wife of Walter R. Stacy, died peacefully in her home in Oak Bluffs on March 27 after a one-year battle with cancer. She was 86.

Born in Bradford on Nov. 16, 1919, she was the third of seven children born to Perley and Jessie Hilliard, the founders of Hilliard's Kitch-in-Vue Candies. She met her husband while he was working at Hilliard's, and they married on Jan. 12, 1941. After the births of their six children, the couple left the family business and moved to Camden, N.Y., in 1952. There they opened Sta-See Candies, a popular home-based business in that area. While in Camden, Liz was active in the Parent-Teachers Association, and she spent several years as a Girl Scout leader.

Walt and Liz closed their candy business in 1964, and Liz took a job as a dark room technician at a printing company in Camden. She worked there until the spring of 1965 when Walter accepted the position of service manager at Camp Aldersgate in Brantingham, N.Y., a summer camp belonging to the Northern New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. During their 15 years there, Liz worked for Beaverite Corporation in Glenfield, N.Y., also as a dark room technician.

After leaving Brantingham the Stacys did some traveling around the United States. They had been coming to Martha's Vineyard since the early 1940s, when the Hilliards first opened their candy business on Circuit avenue, and in 1982 Liz and her husband moved here to take over that business. They ran the store with the help of two of their daughters until June 1989, when they sold it to Liz's nephew, David Hilliard.

From 1982 to 2005 the couple divided their time between the Vineyard and Palmetto, Fla. They settled on the Vineyard year-round beginning in March 2005. They were members of Trinity United Methodist Church in Oak Bluffs, and Liz sang in the choir there for a number of years.

Liz enjoyed knitting, rug hooking and oil painting. At the age of 58 she took on the job of hooking a rug for each of her five daughters, then she hooked a nine-by-12-inch rug for herself. After that was done she started on rugs for each of her grandchildren, managing to finish eight before cancer overtook her. In 1999, at the age of 80, she built a stone wall in her yard on East Chop.

Liz was predeceased by her parents, one brother, Douglas Hilliard of West Hartford, Conn., one sister, Ruth Hilliard of Abington, and her son, Raymond Stacy.

She is survived by two brothers, Alan Hilliard of Venice, Fla., and Philip Hilliard of Halifax; two sisters, Dorcas Brown, a missionary to Thailand, and Christine Wilson of Harper, Kans.; and five daughters, Susan Thurber of Oak Bluffs, Janet Whiting of Syracuse, N.Y., JoAn Dunn and Diane Murdock, both of Cazenovia, N.Y., and Brenda Mastromonaco of Oak Bluffs. She also is survived by 16 grandchildren, including Christopher Thurber of Vineyard Haven and Josiah Mastromonaco of Oak Bluffs, and 13 great-grandchildren, including Samantha Thurber of Oak Bluffs.

There will be no visiting hours, and a memorial service will be held at a later date. Donations in Elizabeth's name may be made to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard, P.O. Box 2549, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557 or Trinity United Methodist Church, Trinity Circle, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.

Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.