Eleanor Nelson passed away peacefully at the age of 97 in the early morning hours of May 31 at her home amongst her family and beautiful garden. She was born in 1927 in Perth Amboy. Her father died when she was 3 ½ and her mother raised her younger sister and her through the Great Depression with the help of family, friends and neighbors.
Her special talent for music led her to study at Trenton State Teachers College where, again with the help of her extended family of friends and neighbors, she was able to continue her studies and graduate with the top job offer at the time, at Valley Road School in Princeton. She was the first music teacher ever hired in the township.
She arrived in Princeton in 1949 and, along with her public school duties, quickly acquired a roster of private piano students. She was soon invited to join the Princeton Music Study Group who would meet at private homes of the members and perform music for each other. She recalled Professor Albert Einstein, also a member, performing a piece for violin and piano at one of these mini “concerts.”
She soon met and married Bob Nelson, a local Princeton boy who had just started his glass shop on Nassau Street, and they spent the next years starting their family of four girls, caring for her mother Rose (who lived with them for another 35 years), and renovating rental properties in the borough.
Her sister Lucille Carnevale and she founded The Fabric Shop on Chambers Street and when her daughter Nancy started attending the newly formed Stuart Country Day School which, at the time, needed help with extra-curricular offerings, she volunteered to teach a sewing class there.
Along the way, Eleanor became active in the Lioness Club and the Soroptomist Club, organizations who raised money for scholarships and supported local charities. She was a founding member, with her husband, of Alphorn Ski Association and traveled to Europe for over 25 trips to the Alps.
She started playing piano at various events at her beloved church, St. Paul’s, and eventually, as her daughters headed off to college, became a volunteer with St. Vincent DePaul and the Senior Care Ministry, now renamed Senior Care Services.
As her love of playing the piano reemerged, she found herself also sharing her gift with residents of Princeton’s elderly care centers. Songs from World War I were particularly appreciated and she slowly came up with the notes and melodies that she remembered from her youth, listening to the songs her uncles used to sing.
Besides volunteering, she loved gardening, baking and her Church along with her adoring family, which has grown to include 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Eleanor’s positive attitude and enthusiasm for giving became quite infectious to all who grew to know her. When she felt sad about no longer being able to donate her time to help others and wondered about the reason for her purpose on this earth after 97 years, she was reminded of what an inspiration she was to so many.
Predeceased by her parents, Robert and Rose McCracken, her sister and brother-in-law Lucille and Tony Carnevale, and her husband of 58 years Robert A Nelson, she is survived by her daughters and their spouses, Marguerite (Jay) Sarson, Nancy (George) Barna, Roberta (Roy Fennimore) Nelson, and Kristin (AR) Willey. Grandchildren Jane, John, Kelly, Johanna, Samantha, Corban, Christine, Drew, Tyler, Rob and Katie, along with (19) cherished great-grandchildren, nephew and niece Gary Carnevale and April Domby, Ron Milazzo, Cindy Hill Santiago, and many cherished friends.
In lieu of flowers please consider donation to Senior Care Services of Greater Princeton or to St. Vincent DePaul Society.
A visitation is on Wednesday, June 4 at 9 a.m. before a 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, 216 Nassau Street, Princeton. Burial will take place at the Princeton Cemetery following the funeral mass.
