Eleanor Ferry Wagenseller, 86, of Elm, New Jersey, died peacefully at home, on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 in the care of her loving family.
Eleanor never recovered from the loss of her husband George –who had passed less than nine months before her. Her love for her family was rock solid, but she made it clear that she wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her true love.
Born in 1934, Eleanor was the oldest daughter of devout Irish Catholic parents. She grew up on Bellevue Avenue in Penndel, Pa. Like so many others, her childhood was shaped by the Great Depression and WWII; rationing, sacrificing and making do with little, in addition to growing up with four brothers and a sister, made her a tough, strong willed and resourceful Eleanor worked as a waitress at Greenwood Dairy’s in Langhorne in the late 1940s and it was there that she met George, the love of her life. When the Korean War extended George’s military service time, Eleanor waited patiently for him to come home and for the next 68 years, they would never be apart.
After raising her own children and moving to New Jersey, Eleanor became a teacher and dedicated her career to helping very young and disadvantaged children. “Miss Eleanor” became a mother to them all and to their young parents as well. She was loved by too many people to count. Before moving to South Jersey in 1980, George and Eleanor were original Levittown homeowners and there they raised the four children who now survive them. Eleanor had many talents, perhaps the most notable being her gift for crafting words. She produced a hundred or more incredible poems, any of which is easily worthy of publication even though she refused to entertain that idea.
Eleanor is predeceased by her husband, George Wagenseller; her parents, Hugh and Mary Dunleavy Ferry; and four brothers, (Dr.) Nicholas F., James F., Gene F. and Hugh F. Jr. Surviving are her children, George Jr. (Jackie Cummings), Jeanne Borrelli (Vince), Bern (Sherie Sholly) and Barbara (Chris Laureys); 13 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; one sister, Kathleen Ridge; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Services will take place privately and interment of ashes will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 501 St. Jude Place Memphis TN 38105.
Arrangements are made by Constantino-Primo Funeral Home, Berlin, N.J.