Eleanor C. Mayer, 82, of Newtown died peacefully in her home on January 5. She was the daughter of Annette Sheehan Mayer and George Anton Mayer, Jr.
Eleanor attended the Palestine District School and graduated from Hawley High School in 1946. She began her work life at Fairfield Hills Hospital and the Hawley Manor Inn. She worked at Connecticut National Bank from 1950 to 1989. Eleanor was a Branch Manager for the Bank in Bethel, Newtown and Southbury and was famous for making character loans to start up businesses when no other banker would. She never made a bad loan.
Eleanor also operated her own real estate brokerage in Newtown. To relax in her free time, Eleanor grew vegetables for exhibition at the Danbury State Fair and raised animals. She was particularly fond of schnauzers and goats. Eleanor was an extreme individualist with a strong sense of duty who was deeply rooted in the town and farm where she was raised and where she lived.
Eleanor was active in the civic life of Newtown and served on numerous town commissions and organizations including the Republican Town Committee, the Board of Tax Review, the Water Pollution Control Authority and the Huntingtown Cemetery Association. Eleanor never hesitated to speak her mind or lend a hand and no one could ask for a better ally, friend, sister or aunt.
Eleanor was predeceased by her brother George A. Mayer III. She is survived by her brother, Jerome J. Mayer, of Easton and Southbury and by her nieces and nephews: Bonnie Mayer and her husband, Richard Levy, of Cheshire; Anton P. Mayer and his wife, Mary Beth Mayer, of Southbury; Paul M. Mayer and his wife, Susan Chapin, of Newtown; and Jerome A. Mayer and his wife, Katharine E. Dougherty, of Newtown; as well as thirteen grandnieces and grandnephews and one great grandnephew. Eleanor is also survived by her devoted friend and dedicated caregiver Anastasia Haroldsen and her devoted friend and fellow gardener Joel C. Thompson.
Funeral services will take place on Thursday, January 10 at 10:00am from the Honan Funeral Home, 58 Main Street Newtown and at 10:30am in St. Rose of Lima Church for a Mass of Christian Burial. Interment will follow in Huntingtown Cemetery, Newtown.
Family and friends called at the Honan Funeral Home Wednesday, January 9 from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends donate in Eleanor's name to the charity of their choice.
