Eleanor was born in San Diego, rather than Austin, because her father was in the military during WWII.
She felt a very close bond to her father. She mourned his passing for the rest of her life, always taking note of the day he died and his birthday. He's buried beside IH-35 close to UT.
In this picture, Eleanor looks a lot like her daughter, Ruby.
Quite interestingly, Eleanor bore an uncanny resemblance to her grand-daughter Amber.
For better or worse, Eleanor's life was full of unexpected twists and turns. Here, she is directing a deaf choir, an experience that she was fond of discussing.
Eleanor loved her brother, James, and her sister, Margot. Because Marcella, her mother, was a widow, Eleanor was often left to supervise, with greater and lesser success, as suggested by a burnt cake pan hidden in their backyard, her two siblings.
This picture speaks volumes about Eleanor.
My mother's wedding day. A very happy day for her and my father.
Mother sits with her new born child, Donnie, who arrived two months too early, which was quite a scary ordeal in the 1970s.
Having attended many schools earlier in life, Eleanor completed the university later in life (in 1986) at St. Edward's, after getting her children raised and started in public school. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in education.
Eleanor reading to her daughter, Ruby. Eleanor was very passionate about teaching reading. She spent what little money she and her husband had to buy their children books. We didn't always have new clothes or new shoes, but we always had lots of books. Some of my fondest memories are of my mother reading to me as a child.
Eleanor with her grand-daughter Amber. Eleanor invested substantive energy in her remaining years to help Amber be successful in school.