Site Search

Through her will, Elizabeth Clifford, who died in 1994 at age 88, set up a pooled income fund at the Foundation. The income from the fund benefitted her, then her son during his lifetime.

Her son, Sidney Clifford, Jr., was a graduate of Philips Exeter Academy, Marlboro College, and the University of Virginia Law School. He maintained a private law practice in Providence, served as a probate judge for Newport County in Little Compton, and was an attorney for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. With his death in June 2020, this fund was established and will support the eight organizations Elizabeth named.

An article about her planned gift in the Foundation’s fall 1995 newsletter cites Elizabeth’s “powerful impact on her community and family” and her “long list of accomplishments.” The article states, ”She was a past president of the Junior League of Rhode Island, the Legal Aid Society of Rhode Island, the Little Compton Garden Club, and the National Society of Colonial Dames in Rhode Island. She served on the boards of the Providence Athenaeum, Visiting Nurses Association of Rhode Island, the Players, and the Roger Williams Hospital Aid Association.”

It continues, “She was also secretary of the Shakespeare Society, chairman of the ladies board of the Providence Art Club, treasurer of the Children’s Civic Theater, vice president of the Providence Symphony Orchestra, and secretary of the Shakespeare’s Head Association...(and) a member of Grace Church, Providence, and of St. Andrew’s by the Sea Church in Little Compton.”

The article further notes that she was the glue that kept a large, extended family together, and son Sidney shared, “She prided herself on her community activities and has ensured that they will continue to benefit.”

Those organizations, all of which she reportedly knew personally through her efforts, are the following Providence-based organizations: Grace Church, Wheeler School, Central Baptist Church, National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Legal Aid Society, Greater Providence YMCA, and visiting nurses; as well as St. Andrews by the Sea Church in Little Compton.