Stephanie (Steffie) Holmes Elliott of West Chop died peacefully in the presence of her family at her home on Nov. 18. She was 90.

She was born in Richmond, Va. in 1932 to Vaughn and Ann Holmes. Her family moved to Brookline and she was raised there as an only child among aunts, uncles and cousins.

She graduated from the Northfield School for Girls in Northfield. In 1954, she graduated summa cum laude from University of Massachusetts Amherst and later earned an advanced degree at Radcliffe College. In 1988, she earned a PhD in social policy, with a focus in geriatrics, from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

As a college student, Steffie met Frank Elliott, the love of her life, while working one summer on Cape Cod. They married in Heidelberg, Germany, where Frank was then stationed, in 1955. They raised their four children in Doylestown, Pa.

Volunteer work was core to her life. She co-founded the Bucks County Probation Volunteer Services in the 1970s. It continues today as Vita Educational Services, the largest provider of educational services for inmates, probationers and parolees in the Bucks County correctional system.

Steffie and Frank pioneered Pine Run Community in Doylestown, Pa., the first privately-held life care community and medical center in the United States. Her expertise in geriatrics helped develop the venture. She was also a founding member of the nonprofit Dimensions in Aging.

For more than 50 years, she and her family enjoyed summers on Martha’s Vineyard. She and her husband moved permanently to West Chop at the time of their retirement. She was a longtime member of the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard. She was an avid supporter of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, the Vineyard Haven Library and Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, as well as other local nonprofits.

She is survived by her daughter Krista Elliott Riley of Zionsville, Ind. and her sons Bradford H. Elliott of Oklahoma City, Okla., Warren P. Elliott of Amherst and Richard R. Elliott of New Hope, Pa. She was much loved and will be dearly missed by her children and 10 grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be held in the early summer 2023. Her ashes will be interred next to her husband at the Holmes Hole Cemetery in Vineyard Haven.

For online condolences and information, visit chapmanfuneral.com.