Dr. Elizabeth Hodnett Addison

Dr. Elizabeth Hodnett (Briggs) Addison, 79.5 passed away Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at Stone Creek Health and Rehabilitation in Asheville, NC.

Dr. Addison was born on October 12, 1946, in Durham, NC to the late Samuel Ayres and Annie May Garrard Hodnett. She was also preceded in death by her first husband Gary A. Briggs, a son, Allen Briggs and a brother, Jim Hodnett.

Elizabeth graduated from Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, TN, in 1964, obtained an A.B. degree with honors from Transylvania College in Lexington, KY, in 1968, a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1975, and a Ph.D. in English from Duke University in 1985. The next year she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa because of the excellence of her dissertation: “Emerson, Quakerism, and an American Aesthetic.” A well-respected scholar of Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalists, she taught American Literature at Western Carolina University from 1990 until she retired in 2012, serving two terms as Department Head.

She was also a fine poet, publishing poems in Mount Olive Review, College English, Friends Journal, Nomad, The Uwharrie Review, The Arts Journal, and The Lyric. After retirement, she and her husband moved to Crowfields Condominiums in Asheville in 2013 where she made many friends and became active in the life of the community. When her health began to decline, she entered assisted living at Brookdale Asheville Overlook and later skilled nursing care at Stone Creek Health and Rehab in Asheville. The family would like to thank the staffs of both places for their care and concern for her and especially Ivy and Judy and the whole team at Four Seasons Hospice for her care as her situation worsened.

She is survived by her husband of 46.8 years, James “Jim” Clyde Addison, Jr.; three children, Jeremy Briggs, Sara Addison-Kristel (Drew) and Jesse Blake Addison (Lindsay); a brother, Sam Hodnett (Nancy) and a sister, Susan Gibb (Ed); grandchildren: Allen Briggs, Grayson Briggs, Noelle Elizabeth Addison, and an as-yet-unnamed Addison grandchild (still in the oven);Sister-in- law: Elizabeth Pandolfo Briggs, and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Blue Ridge Public Radio or PBS NC.