Elise Friedman, world traveler

Elise Kohn Friedman, 93, a mother of three who enjoyed the role of a successful doctor's wife but was often seen shoveling the driveway or hanging the screens in her Elkins Park home, died Monday at her home in Center City.

Born into a wealthy and cultured family, as a young girl she asked her chauffeur to drop her off two blocks from Oak Lane Country Day School, from which she graduated in 1932. In the dark days of the Depression, she did not want her friends to see the fine car.

"Her father, a cardiologist, got clobbered in the Depression, but her uncle helped them out," said her son Steven. "She grew up going to the orchestra and surrounded by artists, musicians and businessmen."

In 1936, she graduated from Swarthmore College, where she played hockey and basketball. In the early 1930s she met her future husband, Paul S. Friedman, a radiologist, on an Atlantic crossing. They married in 1938 and raised three children in Elkins Park.

"Many kids in the neighborhood who were living in unhappy homes came to think of our house as a refuge, and turned to my mother in a crisis," her son said. "Many considered her their surrogate mother."

Mrs. Friedman played tennis and golf until her health began to fail.

"My mother looked like Katharine Hepburn," said Steven Friedman. "She had a great sense of fun and taught everyone how to drive a car."

Mrs. Friedman and her husband traveled to China, India, Central America and Europe several times.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Friedman is survived by another son, Peter; a daughter, Ellen; and six grandchildren. Her husband died in 2001.

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St. Interment will follow in Mount Sinai Cemetery. Donations may be made to the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, 3925 Chestnut St., Philadelphia 19104.

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