Edith (Davenport) Thorpe

Thorpe, Edith Davenport Died Thursday in Minneapolis after a year-long battle with breast cancer. Edie was born in Binghamton, N.Y.. on April 20, 1947, the daughter of Elizabeth Langford Davenport and Winthrop Davenport. She attended schools in Binghamton and graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. After a few years of working in Washington D.C. and New York, she moved to Wayzata when she married A. Skidmore Thorpe in 1975. In Minnesota she served as president of the James R. Thorpe Foundation for 30 years, and for 20 years she was a trustee of the Surdna Foundation in New York, which had been founded by her great-grandfather, the industrialist John E. Andrus. She was an enthusiastic golfer at Woodhill Country Club and elsewhere and for 20 years she was a member of the LeagueAires singing group. In recent years she had a winter home at The Boulders in Arizona. Among her many, many friends, she was known for her joyful energy, her devotion to her family, and her fun-loving wit. Younger people wanted to be like her. Her husband Skid died in 2012. Survivors include their son, Daniel Andrus Thorpe and his wife, Karen of Chicago and her recent partner but longtime friend, Paul Neely. She was also devoted to her five step-children, whom she always considered her own family: Linda Thorpe Comstock of Martha's Vineyard, Mass.; Timothy DornThorpe and his wife, Diane of Minnetonka; Laura Thorpe and her husband, Eric Bergerson of Deephaven; Michael Skidmore Thorpe of Chaska; and Lucy Thorpe McKee and her husband, Louie of Boulder, Colo.; and the nine grandchildren who adored their loving grandmother. Her brothers, David Andrus Davenport of Binghamton and Winthrop Davenport Jr. of Huntington Beach, Calif., survive her as well, and four nieces. A memorial service will be held at 3:30 PM, Saturday, November 22, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1200 Marquette Avenue in Minneapolis. Memorial contributions may be made to the scholarship fund in her name at Vassar College or to Planned Parenthood of Minnesota. David Lee Funeral Home Wayzata 952-473-5577 davidleefuneralhome.com