Eleanor L Kunin

WORCESTER Eleanor L. Kunin, 87, a long-time resident of Worcester and Marstons Mills, and Sarasota, FL, died on at home in Worcester, on November 18, 2014 She was predeceased by her husband, Elliott, after 60 years of marriage; by her beloved son Paul, who died too early; and by her dear brother Herb; she was treasured in life and will be deeply missed by her children Marsha Kunin, of Worcester; Lisa Kunin and her husband, Jeff Dengler, of Teaneck, NJ; Joshua Kunin and his wife Janet, of Zichron Yaakov, Israel; and her daughter-in-law Nina Avedon of Brookline; by her brother Mort Levy and his wife, Ruth Stern, of La Jolla, CA; by her 8 grandchildren Sarah Greene; Kimani Greene; Samara Simpson; Noah Kunin and his wife, Ruti; Jake Kunin and his wife Hannah; Maya Kunin and her husband Yanky; Natan Kunin and his wife, Etty; and Rivkah Leah Kunin and her husband Ari; as well as by her 10 great-grandchildren and her numerous and loving nephews and nieces and cousins and dear friends. Ellie was born in Worcester, the daughter of Maurice and Bessie (Rosenblatt) Levy, and she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech pathology at Worcester State College, and a Master of Arts degree in English at Clark University. She had a lifelong fascination with words and language, with literature, and with fiction and history and questions about the universe, issues of good and evil, and she pursued these all her life, even when it meant having to become computer savvy and adapting to gizmos and gadgets that would enable her to continue finding answers to her ever-present questions (and the effort she often had to make to not kick the computer when it disobeyed). She was a woman who both looked like and had the energy of a person twenty years her junior (when she was thirty and the mother of four, she was carded in a liquor store)sometimes to the annoyance of her husband (Are you her father?") and her children ("Are you her siblings?"). She was a woman with a vibrant interest in lifein opera, symphony, film, and the Patriots and Red Sox. Learning, learning, always learning. In her middle adult years, she began exploring photography, and many of her pictures, such as the images of winter and the cranberry bogs in Marstons Mills, and the moors near the Bronte family domicile, have the serene qualities of oil paintings by the seventeenth-century Little Dutch masters and by the nineteenth-century painters of the Hudson River school. Eleanor, even as she suffered many of the terrible losses life brings to us all, was able, always, to take each new step, to move forward with determination, and even fascination into the next phase of whatever life would bring her. She was possessed of, gifted with and well used, an indomitable and determined spirit, and her loved ones all feel blessed to have had her presence and her example in their lives. She was a contributor to the Jewish Health Care Center of Worcester, and to Clark University, and to many other charitable, cultural, and environmental organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Jewish Community Center of Worcester, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, B'nai B'rith International, the World Jewish Congress, the Worcester Art Museum, and Mechanics Hall. Funeral services will be held at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, November 20th in Congregation Beth Israel, 15 Jamesbury Drive, Worcester. Burial will follow in B'nai B'rith Cemetery in Worcester. Memorial Observance will be at 101 Barry Road on Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Healthcare Center, 629 Salisbury Street, Worcester, 01609; or Hospice and Palliative Care of the Jewish Healthcare Center, or Clark University. THE MERCADANTE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL, 370 Plantation St is honored to assist the family with arrangements.