Eleanor Louise Winchenbach Smith, 101, a Waldoboro native and longtime resident, died Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, at her home on Bremen Road just miles from where she was born, succumbing to old age.
She was the widow of retired civil engineer and Army veteran Sherman K. Smith, who died in 2003. She and Sherman lived in Portland, Augusta, Waterville, and South China before retiring to Waldoboro in 1979.
Eleanor was born Dec. 18, 1921, in Waldoboro, the second child of Dewey H. and Emily Eugley Winchenbach.
She attended Waldoboro schools and graduated from Waldoboro High School in 1939. She earned an associate’s degree from Gates Business School in Augusta and worked at Central Maine Power Co.
Eleanor spent her days as a homemaker and parent. She honed her many skills around the kitchen and was an accomplished hostess, seamstress, and gardener. Eleanor loved children and served many years as a mentor in the Miles of Friends Program befriending second and third graders at Nobleboro Central School.
She was a member of the West Waldoboro Community Church and a former member of the First Congregational Church in Watertown.
In December 2021, a centennial birthday celebration for Eleanor was held at the Dutch Neck Community Center in Waldoboro, with dozens of family members and friends in attendance.
Survivors include her two sons and daughters-in-law, Sherman W. Smith and Linda Heath, of Scituate, Mass., and Frederick H. and Diane M. Smith, of Watertown, Wis.; her daughter, Barbara S. Higgins, of Waldoboro; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. She also left behind many friends and caregivers who she came to know and love in her final years.
Memorial donations can be made to the West Waldoboro Community Church or MaineHealth Care at Home.
Family and friends are invited to a short visitation at Hall Funeral Home one hour before the memorial service which will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023.
The Hall Funeral Home in Waldoboro has care of the arrangements.
