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Elizabeth Ann Clement, age 102, of Cassopolis, died peacefully on Saturday, February 28, 2026 in the presence of her family, listening to the soft waves of Lake Michigan at Brentwood in Niles. She was born Elizabeth Ann Hills on November 15, 1923 in Grand Rapids to Isaac Arthur and Mary Josephine (Applegate) Hills.
Elizabeth enjoyed a wonderful childhood among close family in Grand Rapids and at her family’s summer getaway, “The Wilderness,” on Lake Michigan in Grand Haven. She was a member of Campfire Girls and Job’s Daughters as a young girl, and enjoyed several years as a summer camp counselor in Ohio in her college years. She graduated from Central High School in Grand Rapids in 1941, just before her family moved to Mishawaka. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington, graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1946. Returning to Mishawaka, she met and married a handsome young Navy man whose family attended the same church as hers, and who lived just one block away on Lincolnway. She and John M. “Jack” Clement were married on February 19, 1949, and moved to the family farm outside of Cassopolis at that time, where they raised their four children. The family lived on the farm until 1961, when Jack and a handful of his friends from Tyler Refrigeration built the new family home on the old apple orchard of the farm property, where she lived independently until May, 2025.
Elizabeth obtained her Masters degree in Elementary Education in 1964 from Michigan State University. She spent 27 years teaching in Cassopolis at Brookside, Red Brick, Vandalia, Geneva, and Squires Elementary schools. Before joining the Cassopolis school system, she taught as a substitute at several one-room schoolhouses in the area. Throughout her teaching and then in her retirement years, she made it a mission to make sure her students had warm mittens for winter, and hand knit hundreds of pairs to give to all the kids needing them and to stock the annual mitten tree. She delighted in chance encounters with former students, and almost always was able to recognize adults whom she had not seen since they were children.
Elizabeth was involved in many activities as her family grew up, including Girl Scouts, 4-H, and, perhaps most notably, the Cassopolis High School Band Parents organization, in which she and Jack were active through all four of the kids’ high school careers. Through this organization, they became “bonus” parents for many of the other band kids, who were always welcome to join the Clement crew for meals, adventures, and just hanging out.
Elizabeth loved visits to Lake Michigan throughout her lifetime, and to the family cabin in Baldwin, Michigan. She enjoyed birds, nature, and all manner of fiber crafts, her favorite being weaving once she learned that skill. During World War II, she served as a nurses’ aide and a hostess at the service center in South Bend.
Organizations to which Elizabeth belonged include the Samuel Felt Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, The American Association of University Women, Tri Kappa, The Weavers Guild, the Dowagiac Garden Club, and the Michigan Association of Retired School Personnel.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her parents, Isaac Arthur and Mary Jo Hills, husband John M. Clement, and siblings Mary Josephine (Bobbie) Hills Derda, Edward Applegate Hills, and Arthur Hunter Hills, son-in-law Donald P. Moroz, and daughter-in-law Michele Pointer Clement.
Surviving Elizabeth are her children, Howard (Terri Stanton) Clement of Florida, Ken of Three Rivers, Maggie (Terry) Clement-Jacobsen of Niles, and Nora Moroz of Cassopolis, grandchildren Todd (Carmen) Clement, Adam (Debbie) Clement, Brooke Clement, Jennifer (Chris) Kurus, Abby (Chris) Glassman, Sara (Andrew) Murphy, Molly (Brook) Moroz-Beasley, Tracy Stanton, Kristie (Ian Hurst) Jacobsen, Adam (Melissa) Jacobsen, great-grandchildren Morgan Clement, Dane Clement, Cade Clement, Grace Kurus, Gavin Kurus, Brady Glassman, Reed Glassman, Piper Glassman, Barrett Murphy, Raul Rodriguez, Ulises (Yesenia) Rodriguez, Gabe Stanton-Catallon, Ava Hurst, and Bennett Hurst, great-great-grandchildren Iker, Yaranelii, and Alan Rodriguez, and many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Family and friends will gather Saturday, March 7, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. until time of service at 12:00 Noon at United Presbyterian Church of Cassopolis, 209 East State Street, Cassopolis.
The family prefers memorials in Elizabeth’s name be made either to, United Presbyterian Church of Cassopolis, 209 East State Street, Cassopolis, Michigan 49031, or Heartland Hospice, 8075 Creekside Drive #120, Portage, Michigan 49024.
Elizabeth’s family would like to thank the staffs of the Cass County Medical Care Facility, Brentwood at Niles, and Heartland Hospice for the loving care provided to her in the last seven months of her 102 years of life.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Wagner Family Funerals Connelly Chapel, Cassopolis. Please share a memory or a message online: wagnercares.com.
