Eleanor Burt, known to her friends and family as Lee, died in New Hartford, N.Y. on Dec. 15.
Born Eleanor Sheldon Carr in Lowell, Mass. on Aug. 31, 1927, Lee developed her beautiful soprano voice as a student at Northfield School for Girls, and continued singing throughout her life. She was passionate about books, music, friendship, and, most of all, her family. She met her husband, Richard Henry Burt, while a student at the University of Massachusetts, and they married during the summer between their junior and senior years.
After graduation, the couple moved to Elizabethtown, N.Y., but soon settled in Gilford, N.H., where Lee lived for the next 56 years. There she made lifelong friends and raised three children. She was an active member of the Gilford Community Church and sang in the choir for decades. She loved the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire and the coast of Maine, where she and her family spent summer vacations, often tenting on uninhabited islands or visiting friends and family in Round Pond.
Interested in history, Lee loved books, particularly children’s literature. After her children left home, she translated that interest into an antiquarian bookselling business called the Barn Loft Bookshop. She was active in the New Hampshire Antiquarian Booksellers Association and became known nationally as an expert in collectible children’s books as well as books about New England.
Still vitally interested in current events until late in her life, she devoted herself to volunteering on the 2008 presidential campaign, along with cheering for the Red Sox. Throughout her entire life, she made time for friends old and new. A frequent visitor to her children’s homes, “GrammyLee” avidly followed the exploits of her seven grandchildren.
Her husband, Dick, was the love of her life, and they were inseparable for 48 years. Lee cared for him through several years of illness until his death 15 years ago.
Lee is survived by her children and their spouses and children: daughter, Susan Stetson, husband Stephen of Clinton, N.Y. and their children, Amy, David, and Meghan; son, Richard F. Burt, wife Barbara of Minneapolis, Minn. and their children, Jenna Weeks and husband Kris of Newcastle and Anita; and daughter, Katherine McCreary, husband James of Rockledge, Fla. and their children, Scott and Helen.
In her last three years, Lee enjoyed spending time with Jenna and Kris’s young daughter-her great-granddaughter-Madeline.
A celebration of Lee’s life will be held in Gilford, N.H., in the spring.