Eleanor Adams died in her Terra Linda, California retirement home on the morning of April 10, 2010. She was eighty-eight years old. Eleanor was a lifelong Chautauquan, former Secretary of the Property Owners Association, former Secretary of the Golf Club's Board of Governors and a longtime member of the Women's Golf Club.
Her father, Walter Frank Rittman, was one of the original members of the Chautauqua Foundation. Her brother, William Rittman, was a member of the Board of Trustees for eight years.
Eleanor was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1921 and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1943. She joined the U.S. Naval Reserve (WAVES) and served as a Communications Officer in San Francisco from 1944 to 1946. After the war she earned a master's degree in English from the University of Chicago, and taught in the Chicago school system from 1948 to 1949. She moved to California in 1950 and married Leon Adams in 1954.
Eleanor is survived by her son Tim, her daughter Susan, her son-in-law Clive Helfet and her grandson Aron Helfet. She also was close to Brian Adams and Gerald Adams, sons from her husband Leon's first marriage.
It was Eleanor's wish that neither funeral nor memorial services be held. Contributions in her name can be made to the Chautauqua Foundation, or to TransitPeople, a volunteer organization founded by her son Tim.
Photos of Eleanor are online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleanoradams
Friends and family members are invited to share memories of Eleanor in the moderated comments section below, or to e-mail comments to be posted to eleanor.r.adams@gmail.com .
Eleanor became my stepmother in 1954. From that time on, she fulfilled the role as a true mother and friend. My girl friends, and later my wife, and I were always welcomed with affection, friendship and warmth as well as delicious meals, not to mention hospitality. In terms of loyalty and concern, one could not have had a better stepmother, let aloone mother. Gerald D. Adams
ReplyDeleteEven though she was the wife of my Grandfather, the term "Grandma" never seemed to quite fit. Grandpa Leon always referred to her as "Eleanor", but to my siblings and me, she was always simply and elegantly "Ellie." Mostly I remember how she welcomed us as children year after year into to her home for Christmas Eve celebrations. She was warm, caring, interested in our lives, and always loving. -Scott Adams
ReplyDeleteI met Ellie in 1951 when she was my Dad's secretary and assistant at the Wine Institute. I was attending college, and frequently went into the office to have dinner with my Dad, and also for help with homework and term papers. While Ellie checked my grammar and spelling, Dad rewrote some of my papers. After that the three of us would go to dinner. Dad and Ellie married after I graduated from Cal in 1954. Dad moved into Ellie's apartment on Pleasant Street, and I moved into Dad's Bush Street apartment with my friend Carson. I was a frequent and welcome dinner guest. During these years Ellie began the tradition of Christmas Eve family dinners with my uncles, aunts and Phyl. When I went into the Army, Ellie wrote to me while I was stationed in Georgia, and while I was in Korea. After returning home, I lived and worked in San Francisco, and was invited to dinner in Sausalito, usually arriving early so that I could play with Tim and Susie. After Bobbi and I married, we would bring our three kids, Neil, Nancy and Scott, to visit in Mill Valley. Ellie was fond of them, and they always appreciated her love and generosity, especially on Christmas Eve.
ReplyDeleteThrough the years, we have taken her to lunch on her birthdays. Ellie was always interested in hearing about our kids and grandchildren. She will always have a place in my heart.
Brian Adams
My mother suffered from emphysema and Parkinson's disease. In her last years, she breathed through tubes from an oxygen tank and moved with the aid of a walker. In her last month, she subsisted on an all-liquid diet. Still, she looked at death soberly and realistically, and even quizzed me on the steps to be taken after she passed on. She was ready to die.
ReplyDeleteShe worked as a teacher in inner city Chicago from 1948 to 1949. She belittled her teaching experiences, but I feel that she retained what I think of as a "teacher's heart": a teacher's way of thinking of children, of putting children first. She volunteered as a Cub Scout den mother when I was a boy, and as a playground monitor at my elementary school. After I became a teacher, she made a special effort to visit the fifth grade class I taught then in South Los Angeles. I'll never forget how startled I felt to hear her voice quaver with emotion as she sat among my students, and to see how the visit affected her.
I think that my mother made a special effort to conceal her pain from me in her last years, because she knew I led an organization for kids and did not want to distract me from my work for it. She strove to keep up a congenial social front during my visits, despite the oxygen tubes, and the walker at her side, and her constant weariness. She seemed embarrassed last Thanksgiving to have to request a break during our conversation, to have to sit quietly for awhile and watch TV. Talking for over an hour had been too much for her.
She refused my offers to visit when she wasn't well. She didn't want me to see her that way.
At last, the front collapsed. Susie and I flew to the Bay Area to see her in her final days. I hugged my mother for the last time, and told her that I loved her, and heard the relief in her voice as she managed to smile and whisper that she loved me too. She had fought to stay alive until Susie and I got there.
My sister Susie bent over backward to consult with doctors and insure the best possible care for our mother as she struggled with emphysema and Parkinson's. Only my mother and the staff at Kaiser can know how hard Susie worked on our mother's behalf. And we are both more grateful than we can say for the many sacrifices of Delia Rodas, who helped care for Mom in her final years.
Most of the photos in the Flickr album show my mother as a much younger woman. This is partly because I feel her life should be portrayed as a whole, and partly because looking at the more recent photos upsets me.
Mom, I loved you. I miss you.
Eleanor commanded respect in any venue. She was honest, fair and straightforward. What you saw was what you got. She was my loyal friend and we laughed our heads off sharing stories and gentle gossip. I didn't smoke cigarettes except Eleanor's. She let me use her washer and drier many a time before I moved and got my own. She could not stand to have laundry sitting in the drier because they would be wrinkled so about half the time it was folded when I got back. It was a good deal. She let our son, Chris, park in her back yard on the weekends for a short period of time. Then she reneged because she didn't like his hours. Neither did I. She was a great listener and gave good advice. I loved her. Thurston did, as well. Everyone did. -- Suzanne Reid
ReplyDeleteDear Susie and Tim,
ReplyDeleteYour mom was my college pal and we were friends for more than 65 years. Living on opposite coasts, we still managed to see each other whenever I came to California or she was in New York. We talked on the phone, we wrote, and more recently we e-mailed. We all had nicknames in college and Ellie's was "Altissima". I don't remember how the name was chosen, but it meant "The Greatest"--and she was the greatest.
I send deep sympathy and warm thoughts.
Felice
I wish I could explain what good friends Eleanor and I were as childhood buddies. From fourth grade on we walked to school together. (The last couple of years it was a mile or so) and enjoyed all the school day things kids do!
ReplyDeleteI changed schools at l4 and we didn't get together as often as before but always kept in touch, especially at Christmas time. Her birthday was December 15 and mine the 24th. We always acknowledged it. When I didn't hear from her this year I knew sad news would be coming.
I have such wonderful memories of spending the night at the cottage at the Lake and going to Chautauqua Girls Club with her ... a real treat. I still remember "We'll earn our CGCs. Girls Club Hail To You!" and I only went once or twice a summer!!
She was such a super friend and I will miss her annual Christmas Card. My family spent our summers across the Lake at Chedwel, and when I saw Tom Welch and he told me Eleanor had left for home early, I knew she was really sick to leave the Lake.
The last time I saw her we had such a wonderful time at the Wightman School Reunion. Great memories.
I send my deepest sympathy to Susie and Tim and your families, your mother was very dear to me ....
Betty Large Metz
Great picture as I remember her, only with shorter hair!