DELMAR — “A stubbornly positive woman,” Elizabeth Louise (née Lomery) Burns was someone who would find the good even in bad situations, her granddaughter said. “She always looked for the silver lining.”

A female pioneer in earning a doctoral degree, Ms. Burns worked as a psychologist at the University at Albany. “For her whole life, she was great at listening and thinking of alternative views,” said Kathleen Cox, her granddaughter.

She died peacefully after a short illness on Monday, July 9, 2018. She was 95.

Her family wrote in a tribute, “She was an inspiration to everyone who knew her. She will be remembered for her keen intelligence, her quick wit, and her deep caring and compassion.”

Ms. Burns was born in 1923 in Sheds, New York to Joseph and Nila Lomery, the fourth of six children. “She didn’t have many friends, growing up,” said Ms. Cox. “She was kind of picked on by her siblings.”

Ms. Burns told her granddaughter Dana Cox, “I didn’t have friends but I had the library” — a sentiment Dana Cox recorded in a tribute that serves as a memorial fundraiser for the Friends of the Bethlehem Public Library.

Ms. Burns graduated from Oneida High School in 1940, and then enrolled at the State Teachers College at Buffalo for two years, but war work interrupted her studies. In 1948, she married Edward T. Burns of Oneida. They had a son, Thomas, in 1949 and a daughter, Ann, in 1951.

For several years, Mrs. Burns worked as director of Christian Education at the First Presbyterian Church in Oneida. In 1959, she returned to college to complete her undergraduate degree and in 1967 she moved with her family to Albany to enter a doctoral program there at the State University of New York.

“Upon her graduation, she became one of the first women in her generation to obtain a doctoral degree and began a successful career as a counseling psychologist at SUNYA. She retired in 1989,” her family wrote.

Ms. Burns loved her work as a psychologist, said her granddaughter, Kathleen Cox. “She worked at the college and would meet with people early in the days of therapy and talk through problems,” Ms. Cox said. “She just really loved to help people.”

In 1975, she bought an 1884 row house across from Washington Park on Madison Avenue. “It was the pride and joy of her life for many years. Her garden was a constant delight and her Christmas decorations were legendary,” her family wrote.

She painted the house red, with green trim, in the Victorian style appropriate to its era, and won a preservation award for her efforts. “It was like a time capsule, very clean,” said Ms. Cox, describing her grandmother’s house. “She was one of the most organized people I know, not at all sentimental.”

Ms. Cox described entering her grandmother’s home, being greeted with a gently curving staircase and period wallpaper. “Every room was different,” she said. In addition to Ms. Burns, the house was occupied by a series of beloved cats, most notably one named Miss Bess Truman.

Behind the row house was a garden designed and lovingly maintained by Ms. Burns. “She put in tile slabs for a pathway, and kept meticulous notes on what she bought, the flowers that went in. She gave us updates on the bougainvillea or the raccoons … It was a really peaceful place,” said Ms. Cox.

A few years ago, Ms. Burns decided “she didn’t want to live alone in such a vertical house, especially in the winter,” her granddaughter said. Ms. Burns researched a place to live and decided on Atria.

Throughout her life, Ms. Burns was an accomplished baker and could easily whip up several pies before breakfast, her family said. One of Ms. Cox’s fond memories is, during the summer visits the family made to Maine, the kids would boat to Blueberry Island and come back with buckets full.

“We’d help her clean and prepare the berries and she’d make pies and cobblers — the best I ever tasted,” said Ms. Cox.

After she retired, Ms. Burns fulfilled her lifelong dream of traveling to far-off countries. She went to Europe many times, visiting historic sites in Ireland and returning often to Greece, her granddaughter said.

She also became active in the Albany Society of Architectural Historians. For the past several years, she participated in another of her life’s passions: water exercise, through which she met many lifelong friends. That passion started with a class at the YMCA, her granddaughter said. “It was like dancing in the water,” explained Ms. Cox.

Ms. Burns was a voracious reader and was never without several library books on her desk. “Every time we talked on the phone, we’d discuss books,” her granddaughter Dana Cox wrote in the library tribute. “Most recently she was telling me about a series of murder mysteries she was reading to completion. They were okay she said.

“The year Harry Potter came out, I remember her chuckling to herself in her rocking chair. I asked her why she was laughing and she proceeded to explain Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans to me.”

Ms. Burns read three newspapers a day and provided a “clipping service” for her family and friends. She was a committed union member and remained interested in and advocated for progressive causes throughout her life.

“She had very strong opinions about politics,” Ms. Cox said of her grandmother, who was a Democrat. “She put her money where her mouth was and would donate to the causes she cared about. She stood up for what she believed in and she thought critically about issues.”

Describing Ms. Burns as a grandmother, Ms. Cox said, “She was intimidating. She was strict when we were children. She had high expectations on how we should behave. She was firm but not mean. You were crestfallen if you disappointed her … It came from a profound love for us.”

As an adult, Ms. Cox, who works as an actuary, would call her grandmother for advice about her job. “She was my mentor.”

Ms. Cox went on, “She really taught me how to be giving without being taken. She stood up for what she believed in. I know what that looks like — she gave me a model for being a strong woman.

“In a time when women felt they needed a man to complete the picture, she never considered that … She stood on her own two feet … and spoke her mind.”

Giving to the very end, Ms. Burns had wanted her body to be donated to Albany Medical Center “to help people learn,” her granddaughter said; unfortunately, because of infection, that wasn’t possible.

But, Ms. Cox said, it made her realize that is what she wants to do when faced with death herself. “If she couldn’t do that,” Ms. Cox said of her mentor, “maybe I could.”

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Elizabeth Louise (née Lomery) Burns is survived by two sisters, Shirley and Barbara; her daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Vincent Cox; and her grandchildren, Kathleen, Dana, and Brendan Cox. Her son, Thomas, died before her.

“Throughout her long life, Elizabeth made many friends and forged many bonds, but she especially cherished her friendship with Laurie Shanks,” her family wrote. “Laurie was both her dear friend and a fierce advocate. The gratitude felt by Elizabeth’s family for Laurie’s kindness cannot be overstated.

“In addition, Elizabeth’s family wishes to acknowledge the love and support of her friends at Atria, her workout companions at the pool, her long-time neighbor Joan, and the kind and dedicated doctors and nurses at Albany Medical Center Hospital.”

In accordance with her wishes, her family will not be holding a memorial service, but asks instead that donations be made to the Friends of the Bethlehem Public Library at http://www.crowdrise.com/elizabeth-burns or by mail to Friends of the Bethlehem Public Library, 451 Delaware Ave., Delmar, NY 12054; to Albany Medical Center at The Albany Medical Center Foundation, Post Office Box 8928, Albany, NY 12208; or to a charity of choice.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer