Elisabeth Elliot (née Howard; December 21, 1926 – June 15, 2015) was a Christian author and speaker. Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca people (now known as Huaorani; also rendered as Waorani or Waodani) of eastern Ecuador. She later spent two years as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband. Returning to the United States after many years in South America, she became widely known as the author of over twenty books and as a speaker. Elliot toured the country, sharing her knowledge and experience, well into her seventies. Biography Elisabeth Elliot was born Elisabeth Howard in Brussels, Belgium on December 21, 1926; her family included her missionary parents, four brothers, and one sister. Elisabeth's brothers, Thomas Howard and David Howard, are also authors. Her family moved to the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the U.S. when she was a few months old. In addition to Philadelphia, she lived in Franconia, New Hampshire and Moorestown, New Jersey. She studied Classical Greek at Wheaton College, believing that it was the best tool to help her with the calling of ultimately translating the New Testament of the Bible into an unknown language. It was at Wheaton where she met Jim Elliot. Before their marriage, Elisabeth took a post-graduate year of specialized studies at Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada, where a campus prayer chapel was later named in her honor. Jim Elliot and Elisabeth Howard went individually to Ecuador to work with the Quichua (or Quechua) Indians; the two eventually married in 1953 in the city of Quito, Ecuador. In January 1956, her husband Jim was speared to death along with four of his missionary friends while attempting to contact the Huaorani tribe. Their daughter, Valerie (born February 27, 1955), was 10 months old when her father was killed. Elisabeth continued her work with the Quechua for two more years. Two Huaorani women living among the Quichua, including one named Dayuma, taught the Huao language to Mrs. Elliot and fellow missionary Rachel Saint. When Dayuma returned to the Huaorani, she created an opening for contact by the missionaries. In October 1958, Mrs. Elliot went to live with the Huaorani with her three-year-old daughter Valerie and with Rachel Saint. The Auca/Huaorani gave Elisabeth the tribal name Gikari, Huao for "Woodpecker." She later returned to the Quichua and