Eleanor Mae Orange (nee Ullrich), 103, died peacefully on Friday, July 12, 2019, in the home she shared, alternately, with her parents, her husband and her children on Cresskill Avenue.
Eleanor is predeceased by her husband William, her oldest boy, David, and her youngest daughter, Sandra. She is survived by her middle son, John, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Eleanor Mae was born in the spring of 1916 to John and Mary Ullrich. Eleanor was a lifelong resident of Bergen County, settling in Cresskill at a very young age. She lived virtually all of her life in the same home next-door to her grandmother, and later to her dear Aunt Peachie. Eleanor was an only child and she enjoyed her time alone. She graduated Tenafly High School in 1934. She was a proud working woman before it was common. If you gave her a chance, she would quickly tell you stories of her job as a secretary for the telephone company on Bethune Street in the West Village, or for a music teacher closer to home. She met her husband while working in New York City for the same company. Bill and Eleanor fell in love, married and raised three wonderful children. Life was not always easy, they lived through the Great Depression and World War II. They persevered as the greatest generation did. Later in life they were lucky enough to travel the world, enjoy a second home on Lake George in the Adirondacks, and frequent a small condo in the U.S. Virgin Islands. But make no mistake, Cresskill was always her home.
Eleanor lived life to the fullest, enjoyed wondrous experiences, remained a sharp fighter till the very end and will be missed dearly by those that knew her. May she rest in peace.
Funeral service was Friday at Tenafly United Methodist Church, Tenafly. Interment at Brookside Cemetery.
