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IN LOVING MEMORY OF Eleanor S. Speers
Eleanor S.
Speers
d. Nov 7, 2015
Eleanor S. Speers' Obituary
E
leanor Schroeder Speers, 91, died in her sleep November 7, 2015, in her home at Meadow Lakes, Hightstown, NJ, of complications following a stroke.
She is survived by her daughter, Rev. Mary Barrett Speers, of Setauket, New York; and her son, John Gorham Speers, of Paris, France.
Eleanor Speers was born on April 12, 1924, the youngest child of Harold Willmer Schroeder and Charlotte Droste Schroeder of Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Montclair High School and received a B.A. in sociology from Vassar College, having accelerated with the class of 1945-44 in order to serve in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II. She was posted to Atlanta, training Navy pilots in Link trainers until the end of the war.
In 1947, she married William E. Speers, Jr., also of Montclair, N.J., to whom she was married until his death in 2006. The couple resided in Montclair until 1957, when they moved with their two children to Princeton. Eleanor Speers was an ordained deacon in the Nassau Presbyterian Church, volunteered in the Admissions Department of Princeton Hospital for many years, and served on the board of the Princeton YWCA. When the family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969, Mrs. Speers worked in the psychiatric care department at St. Joseph's Hospital. Upon the family's return to Princeton in 1976, she went back to school, obtaining her M.S.W. from Rutgers University. Following this, she worked as a volunteer in the Adult Day Care Center of Mercer Street Friends in Trenton and served on the board of the Princeton Area Council of Community Services.
Eleanor Speers was quiet and thoughtful, but loved company, and enjoyed making new friends. She was always ready to welcome visitors with a cup of tea and a cookie, and particularly enjoyed singing around the piano at Christmas. Her love for people also found expression in her service as a deacon in Nassau Church. A lifelong lover of music, learning, and all things French, Eleanor Speers played piano and recorder, and participated faithfully in adult education at Nassau Church. When she moved with her husband to Meadow Lakes in 2005, she continued to enjoy musical activities, and was an enthusiastic member of the conversational French group and the Meadow Lakes congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury.
There will be a memorial service for Eleanor Speers at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street, Princeton, N.J. 08542, at 11AM on Saturday, November 14, 2015.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Mercer Street Friends (Trenton), Nassau Presbyterian Church, or the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury (for its Meadow Lakes Ministry).
She is survived by her daughter, Rev. Mary Barrett Speers, of Setauket, New York; and her son, John Gorham Speers, of Paris, France.
Eleanor Speers was born on April 12, 1924, the youngest child of Harold Willmer Schroeder and Charlotte Droste Schroeder of Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Montclair High School and received a B.A. in sociology from Vassar College, having accelerated with the class of 1945-44 in order to serve in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in World War II. She was posted to Atlanta, training Navy pilots in Link trainers until the end of the war.
In 1947, she married William E. Speers, Jr., also of Montclair, N.J., to whom she was married until his death in 2006. The couple resided in Montclair until 1957, when they moved with their two children to Princeton. Eleanor Speers was an ordained deacon in the Nassau Presbyterian Church, volunteered in the Admissions Department of Princeton Hospital for many years, and served on the board of the Princeton YWCA. When the family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969, Mrs. Speers worked in the psychiatric care department at St. Joseph's Hospital. Upon the family's return to Princeton in 1976, she went back to school, obtaining her M.S.W. from Rutgers University. Following this, she worked as a volunteer in the Adult Day Care Center of Mercer Street Friends in Trenton and served on the board of the Princeton Area Council of Community Services.
Eleanor Speers was quiet and thoughtful, but loved company, and enjoyed making new friends. She was always ready to welcome visitors with a cup of tea and a cookie, and particularly enjoyed singing around the piano at Christmas. Her love for people also found expression in her service as a deacon in Nassau Church. A lifelong lover of music, learning, and all things French, Eleanor Speers played piano and recorder, and participated faithfully in adult education at Nassau Church. When she moved with her husband to Meadow Lakes in 2005, she continued to enjoy musical activities, and was an enthusiastic member of the conversational French group and the Meadow Lakes congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury.
There will be a memorial service for Eleanor Speers at Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street, Princeton, N.J. 08542, at 11AM on Saturday, November 14, 2015.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Mercer Street Friends (Trenton), Nassau Presbyterian Church, or the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury (for its Meadow Lakes Ministry).
To plant a memorial tree in memory, please visit our tree store.
Funeral Services for Eleanor S. Speers
Memorial Service
November
14
Saturday
Nassau Presbyterian Church
Starts at 11:00 am
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