Elizabeth Moreland Caperton, loving wife, mother and compassionate friend, died Monday, Sept.11, 2023, at Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. At her bedside were her husband, daughter and son.

Mrs. Caperton, 83, of Chattanooga, is survived by her husband of 63 years, Frank Caperton; a daughter, Callie Caperton Hamilton; a son, Robert H. Caperton, two grandsons, Drew and Robbie; their father Andrew Hamilton, all of Chattanooga; sisters-in-law, Rae Gibson and Nancy Caperton, both of Bossier City, LA.

She was a member of Ashland Terrace Christian Church and loved its adult Sunday school class. She was a member of Chapter BE of the PEO Sisterhood and had served a term as its president. She also was a former member of chapters AD in Chattanooga and AJ in Indianapolis, where she also served as president.

Raised in Haughton, Louisiana, Liz was the daughter of a school principal and musically gifted mother. She played clarinet in her high school band and went on to major in English at Northwestern State University. There she met her husband on the first day of freshman English, where she grabbed a seat next to a good-looking boy from West Virginia. While she left Louisiana after college, it was always her anchor and a key part of who she was.

After teaching briefly in Virginia and Florida, she embraced the job of raising a daughter and son. She derived deep joy from her family and raised her children with unshakeable love, although all knew the family dog was her real favorite. She showed her mischievous streak by squirting unsuspecting family members with the hose and, later, chasing her toddler-aged grandsons with a water pistol. Gentle by nature and on principle, Liz had tremendous empathy for others as well as formidable strength in a crisis. She loved her friends and guarded her family's welfare. She was the proverbial "steel magnolia." She matched compassion with good sense, and she savored life, enjoying the sounds of katydids and birds as she drank coffee in the mornings on the screened porch. She loved cornbread with tomatoes and homemade banana pudding.

She and Frank moved to Chattanooga after the birth of two grandsons, who grew up in the warmth of her love and light of her humor. She and her daughter, best friends, delighted in watching them grow into young men.

Mrs. Caperton was preceded in death by her parents, Paxton Williams Moreland, Sr., and Elizabeth Wyche Moreland, and brother, Paxton Williams Moreland, Jr.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship, 3700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312. P.E.O. is an organization providing scholarships, grants, and loans to women seeking to further their education.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm on Saturday, September 16, 2023 in the funeral home chapel of Hamilton Funeral Home.

The family will receive friends from 2:00 pm until the time of service.

Arrangements are by Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343.