In Loving Memory
Eleanor Whitfield
April 12, 1946 — September 30, 2024 · Aged 78
“She planted things she knew she'd never see bloom.”
Some of this memorial is kept for family.
Eleanor Rose Whitfield arrived in the spring of 1946, in her grandmother's farmhouse on Orchard Road — she liked to say she came with the daffodils.
She spent two years teaching abroad with a rural schools program before she ever had a classroom of her own, and then taught third grade at Cedar Hollow Elementary for forty years. Every spring her windowsills filled with paper-cup seedlings, and her students carried them home like diplomas.
Sunday mornings were for the choir, Sunday afternoons for the garden, and any warm evening for the porch and whoever wandered by. She was undone by a stray seedling on a clearance rack, a hymn in the key of G, and any excuse to make peach cobbler for more people than her table could hold.
“Plant it anyway” was her answer to almost every doubt anyone ever brought to her porch.
Obituary
Eleanor Rose Whitfield, 78, of Cedar Hollow, passed peacefully on September 30, 2024, at home, with the windows open to the garden.
Born April 12, 1946, she taught third grade at Cedar Hollow Elementary for forty years, sang twenty-six years in the Bram's Creek Church Choir, and left the town measurably greener than she found it. She was preceded in death by her husband Samuel and her parents, Joseph and Anna Miller, and is survived by her daughter Maria, her son Robert, and her granddaughter Anna.
A service was held at the Cedar Hollow Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you plant something.
- Hometown
- Cedar Hollow
- Occupation
- Schoolteacher & Master Gardener
- Education
- the State Teachers College
- Faith
- Methodist
- Resting place
- Laid to rest at Riverbend Memorial Gardens, Cedar Hollow
Funeral service
Oct 4, 2024
Funeral service
11:00 in the morning
Cedar Hollow Methodist Church
2 Church Street, Cedar Hollow
The choir she sang with for twenty-six years sang her out.
A walk through this life
The 1940s
- Historical context · 1947
The transistor was invented, the seed of everything electronic.
- Historical context · 1948
A first-class stamp was 3 cents, and a gallon of gasoline about 26 cents.
The 1950s
- Historical context · 1956
The Interstate Highway System began connecting the country.
The 1960s
- Historical context · 1969
Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.
The 1970s
- Historical context · 1975
A first-class stamp was 10 cents, and a gallon of gasoline about 57 cents.
- Historical context · 1979
The Walkman put music in people's pockets.
The 1980s
- Historical context · 1989
The Berlin Wall came down.
The 1990s
- Historical context · 1995
A first-class stamp was 32 cents, and a gallon of gasoline about $1.15.
- Historical context · 1996
Families began going online from home.
The 2000s
- Historical context · 2007
The first iPhone was introduced.
The 2010s
- Historical context · 2015
A first-class stamp was 49 cents, and a loaf of bread about $1.40.
The 2020s
- Historical context · 2020
The world stayed home together through a pandemic.
Moments come from what the family recorded — nothing is invented. Items marked “Historical context” are world events of the era, added by the family’s choice.
Things she loved
- Peonies and heirloom tomatoes
- The first frost
- A well-organized seed drawer
- Letters — actual paper letters
- The radio on low while she cooked
Recognized for bringing school gardens to every third-grade classroom in the county.
📌★Eleanor's Peach Cobbler
Ingredients: ripe peaches, more butter than you'd admit to, flour, sugar, a little nutmeg. Slice more peaches than seems reasonable. Make the batter while the butter melts in the dish. Pour, don't stir, and let the oven sort it out. Serve warm to more people than your table holds.
Second-Frost Apple Butter
She said the apples needed one good scare. Ingredients: orchard apples, cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, patience. 1. Quarter the apples; don't peel them. 2. Simmer in cider until they give up. 3. Mill, then back in the pot on low. 4. Stir whenever you walk past, all afternoon. 5. Give most of it away. That's the recipe.
Riverbend Memorial Gardens
1 River Road
Oak Hill section, Row 7
Tap the map to open it full screen.