Elaine Broydrick Thro, of Marina del Rey, CA, an insightful UCLA philosophy teacher and experienced international election monitor for the US State Department, passed away on August 7, 2024. She touched the lives of many students through her passion for deep examination of complex arguments and helped many foreign citizens through her efforts to ensure they gained the fairer elections hoped for. Born on February 19, 1945, in Boston, Massachusetts, Elaine leaves behind a legacy that will be remembered by all who knew her.
As the daughter of one of the first woman lawyers ever graduated from Boston University, Elaine developed a powerful gift of argument early in life. Her elder sister Gail recalls how her own childhood concepts of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were pretty much left in tatters by Elaine’s conclusions about those ‘supposed’ visitors.
Elaine attended schools in Wellesley and Hingham, and was an excellent student, winning a full tuition General Motors scholarship to Connecticut College, where she majored in Public Affairs, Philosophy, English and French Literature.
When she left college a year early to marry fellow Hingham resident, Brooker Thro, the two had a mutual key agreement that they held to throughout their lives: that their primary contribution to society would be through careers of learning and teaching.
Elaine entered the UCLA Philosophy Department program in 1974 and, in these early years, had much enjoyment teaching courses in her areas of greatest interest, political philosophy, meta-ethics, and applied ethics. Later, in UCLA’s PHD program, Elaine worked as a Research Scholar with the former world-renowned Leonardo Scholar, Carlo Pedretti, who was on her dissertation committee. Elaine’s articles written under Pedretti’s guidance and drawn on in her dissertation examine Leonardo’s idea, set forth in his 1508-14 writings on the pinhole camera, that some aspects of human depth perception can be achieved by the eye alone, without the prior support of a language and its cultural knowledge about distance. This view was not accepted by most modern perceptual psychologists of the 1970’s. But Elaine argued that his conclusion deserved more careful attention than it was getting. (And, in fact, she has been delighted to watch as a later generation of perceptual psychologists have been moving closer to Leonardo’s position.)
After achieving her UCLA PhD in Philosophy in 1990, Elaine began thinking about making a radical career change—turning her exploratory nature and teaching skills from its contemplative to an active role.
The next decade would be devoted to working with the U.S. State Department’s OSCE/ODIHR organization—a government service agency first called to her attention by her niece Nancy Smith, who had already had experience with its missions. After more consideration, Elaine signed up to be an observer and compliance assessor of elections in locations in Southern Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Much of this election work took place in unstable environments of newly independent countries managing multi-party democracy.
In these observer roles she worked closely with an international team partner and local interpreter. Elaine communicated her findings in regular written reports as well as oral debriefings given at the national OSCE Mission Headquarters.
She did come to feel at the end of this service that she had met her new career objective of helping stimulate significant political change for numerous citizens. She received many notes of thanks for her efforts from OSCE international partners and OSCE colleagues. In fact, with one of these colleagues from Germany who shared Elaine’s depth of interest in international politics, she has maintained a regular correspondence of more than 20 years.
Elaine is survived by her loving husband, Brooker, of 59 years, sisters: Gail Smith (late John Smith) of Hingham, Nancy McManus (Don) of West Palm, and Bonnie Singleton (Dan) of Hingham, nieces and nephews: Nancy Palmer (Bob) of Boston, Douglas Smith of New Orleans, Barrie Cavallo Smith of Hingham, Brooke McManus of New York, James McManus (Meghan) of West Palm, Heidi Singleton of Hingham and Daniel (Kathryn) of Hingham, her aunt, Carole Trainor, of Boston, her in-law siblings Elizabeth Thro Levitt and Frederick Eugene Thro, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
Below are some words of remembrance from Elaine’s family.
Sister Gail Smith: Elaine’s ongoing conversations with me and all my family members were invaluable for their helpful ideas and loving support. For example,
Niece Nancy Smith recalls: Aunt Elaine will always be remembered for her wisdom, timeless elegance, and beauty. My Aunt is a pillar of strength for her loved ones, and her unwavering support will never be forgotten. I will always treasure our international work/travel together and our endless talks on the state of the world. Aunt Elaine excelled in everything she set her mind to—her legacy will live on through her many nieces, grand nieces, and nephews.
Nephew Douglas Smith: Aunt Elaine advised me about course work throughout high school and in choosing a college major. Later on she offered suggestions about employment searches and help with resume writing. I had a super time with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Brooker when they took me on a Malibu Beach and Wine Country tour in 2018.
Niece Barrie Smith: My Aunt Elaine is the person in my life that most helped me deal with academic challenges and achieve successes. She took me on my very first college tour. And I never would have been accepted at or graduated from my first-choice college—Emerson in Boston—without her support and encouragement.
From Sister Nancy McManus: Elaine was a beloved aunt who played a significant role in the lives of her nieces and nephews, including their educations and careers. She will be greatly missed. For example,
Niece Brooke McManus adds: I appreciated Elaine’s interest in my work with Harvard’s special library collections, her recommendation that French was the most sensible foreign language to know well (she herself studied with tutors both in Nice and Morocco before passing the DELF test in Paris), and also the novels she sent me from time to time to help keep me up to speed—though I thought her standards must be too ambitious for a mere 12-year old when one choice was Henry James’s Wings of a Dove. Finally, we both shared a core belief that CATS must be loved and served.
From Nephew James McManus: the greatest gift my Aunt Elaine gave me was the protection and safety she offered during an extremely difficult time of my life. I was 24 years old and living in Los Angeles. There was a very bad house fire, and I needed someone to be by my side immediately. Aunt Elaine was right there. She offered the strongest support possible and a fierce protectiveness. I know she loved me, and I love her very much. I will remember her as an amazingly accomplished and loving person. I will tell my children stories of my Aunt Elaine, and her legacy will live on in my family, forever.
From Sister Bonnie Broydrick Singleton: Elaine was a great giver of gifts and never missed an important occasion.
Nephew Dan recalls having the best collection of Brooks Brothers ties in the entire Hingham Schools. His father would often borrow them for work.
And Niece Heidi remembers fondly the beautiful Tiffany necklaces and bracelets and unique gifts from Mackenzie-Child to celebrate special occasions. Another wonderful memory was visiting Aunt Elaine and Uncle Brooker in LA for an outstanding sightseeing drive around Beverly Hills and Malibu. Any college application, graduate school application, or resume was always improved by Aunt Elaine’s thoughtful comments. Many times, when we had a situation that needed to be addressed our mother would say, ‘I’ll ask Aunt Elaine.’ Our aunt was always there for us, and we will remember her with love and affection.
From Brother-in-law Fred Thro: Having the opportunity in recent years to see what a knowledgable, perceptive and caring person Elaine is, I am not at all surprised to read these many tributes above. It’s clear she’s been a lot like our own family’s much fabled Aunt Betty Thro, a Rockford Illinois educator and radio communicator, who provided wise counsel and loving support to my elder siblings Brooker, Stuart, and Elizabeth during their earlier years that are so challenging for all of us. I certainly wish I too could have been blessed with an Aunt Betty or Aunt Elaine at some of those early times.
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