Born Arianne Marie Zarek, her Birth Mother wrote, “Born with Joy” on the back of her first Photo. Within weeks she became Elizabeth Rebecca Jacobs as she was adopted into a young Jewish family. The middle child of three girls, all close in age, Elizabeth grew up in a household that celebrated often. Weekly Shabbat dinners, near monthly holidays and festivals, along with the usual family birthdays, offered frequent opportunities for her to don her party shoes and get dressed up. She loved it! Elizabeth's earliest years were a powerfully postitive start to what would become an emotionally difficult growing up. Being adopted became painful for her. She felt different, misunderstood, left out. She grew shy and withdrawn, only to come out when very comfortable and secure in her surroundings. Just her close friends and family would benefit from her sharp wit and humour, her dramatic animation, and her beautiful voice.

The expression was inside her, and all along Elizabeth believed that life was meant to be enjoyed and cherished and shared with others. As an adolescent at Jewish Summer Camp, she got turned on the the music of the 60's and 70's and fell in love. She dreamed of Community and Flowers and Tamborines, listening and singing over and over. She soaked it all up and after a spikey-haired detour in the 80's became a fringe-wearing hippie with a lot of songs in her brain. A nearly year-long stint on a Kibbutz in Israel, working mostly in the Kindergarten there, uncovered Elizabeth's uncanny connect-ability with young children. These were her people. Remembering her happy early childhood, she wanted to bring that wonder and delight to each child's every day experience, acknowledging that the foundation she was graced with as a young one offered such stability in her own shaky times. Over the next 20 years as she traveled an avenue of learning as child care aide, school bus driver, Early Education Student, assistant teacher, lead teacher, and eventual Mentor teacher, Elizabeth's gifts developed and expanded beyond what she was sharing with the children in her care. She spent 4 years as President of her Child Care Workers local, advocating for living wages and speaking out at rallies and hearings at the State Capitol. She shared her perspectives on child behaviors with parents and other providers, which led to significant positive changes in people's lives.