I am grateful I had the opportunity to spend precious hours with my aunt Ellie months before her death when she still was able to share stories of our family's history.  She was a wonderful story teller and she filled me with visions of the purple dress with blue satin sleeves sewed by our beloved grandmother Clara  that she wore on her 9th birthday when she went to the opera with her handsome father Paul Harrison.   From a young age my  Aunt Ellie was like a mother to her sister Rozzie, my mother. At the end of Rozzie's life she was there every day continuing her loving care.  The sister's are now reunited and we will keep their memories alive through the stories we will continue to share with each other. 
 With love Eleanor's niece Susie Travis

Today I mailed a contribution to JourneySongs to honor the memory of my aunt, Eleanor Grace {Harrison) Spingarn. She was privileged to enjoy the music  of JourneySongs several times before her passing.  
Aunt Eleanor was a fine woman who was a valuable member of our family.  Thankfully, this was spread over the many years of her life.

My deepest condolences to Sandy, her sons and grandchildren, all of her cousins, extended family and the many friends who loved Eleanor. I was honored and graced by her presence and her love as she entered Hospice care just 5 months ago. It felt like I knew Ellie five lifetimes! I will never forget her stories about her Manhattan years, her youth, adulthood and all her contributions through her good work on earth was inspirational. Ellie, we loved you living and we love you still. Your soul is blessed and surrounded by love. You walked through life with love, grace and gratitude.

We are so sorry to hear of your mother's passing and will note it for our members.  She and Doctor Spingarn were a real team in practice, and we won't see their like again.

"The New York County Medical Society and the Board of Trustees of the Clifford L. Spingarn MD Memorial Education Fund join in mourning the passing of Eleanor G. Spingarn, the widow of past Society president Clifford L. Spingarn, MD.  

Mrs. Spingarn, 101 at the time of her death, served several terms as president of The Auxiliary to the New York County Medical Society.  She  was a leader in organized medicine in her own right, as well as a true helpmate in Doctor Spingarn's practice.  

The members send their sympathies to the Spingarn Family.

Hi Kate:

Growing up in a musical family in lower Manhattan, my mother, Eleanor Spingarn, always said "A day without music is a day wasted." Her mother Clara Harrison and sister Gertrude Harrison Gover, (Julliard 34') were trained singers and so, she grew up surrounded by music. Gertrude's son and my cousin, Eugene Gover, sang with the Cantata Singers for 40 years. 

However, on September 1st , Mother died at 101 years and nine months and her funeral was last Friday at Levine Chapel on Sept. 4th. 2015.

A group of your Journey Singers with Joan Caplan, came and sang at The Levine Chapel in Brookline and their contribution made it a very beautiful service. 

They also came, over the year to Sing at my Mother's bedside when she was dying at Springhouse in Jamaica Plain and they gave her much pleasure. In the end, she spent her last month at the Miriam Boyd Parlin Hospice Home in Wayland. It made a very difficult end, somehow more tolerable for us, with an excellent, continuously loving  and caring staff.
Therefore, I want to finally make a contribution to your wonderful organization. Please tell me how I can do this and where I can mail or email my contribution. 

Sincerely, 
Alexandra "Sandy" Spingarn

Aunt Ellie and Uncle Cliff, Aunt Gert and Uncle Ab, we were lucky to grow up visiting their houses and being part of the Harrison girls sphere of influence. Ellie was always there for my mother. She was always a gracious hostess to Michele and I in our visits to Manhattan. We especially enjoyed our 2 hour chat about old times this past summer in Boston. You were truly one in a million!

I will honor you till the day of my last breath. You were from a generation that cannot be replicated today, where human devotion to caring for others and personal discipline in ones life have been lost. I will 
Remember all I have learned from you about aging with dignity and self respect. And I will try to care more about others than my own comfort or personal gain. Your loving daughter, Sandy

I am so sorry to lose my Godmother, my aunt Ellie, Eleanor Harrison Spingarn.  She was a very powerful influence in my life, and is the last of the Harrison girls [the three graces] to leave us.  My mother Gert, Gertrude, was the eldest, after Paul and Clara's son Irving died at age seven.  Rozzie, Rosalind, was the youngest. She and her husband Maxie and my cousins Susie and Robert also lived in Brooklyn, as we did.  Ellie was the middle daughter, the most important one, according to her father and my grandpa Paul, because the oldest and the youngest were the bread, but she was the meat in the middle of the sandwich. Ellie and Cliff moved their children, my cousins John and Sandy from Queens to Manhattan, thus giving the Harrisons a real foothold in the heart of New York, from the Lower East Side, where they started out, to the Upper East Side. We miss her terribly and will remember her with great love for the rest of our lives.
Dan, Janice, Mike, and Adam Gover

OBITUARY

Eleanor Grace Harrison Spingarn

Passed away on SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Levine Chapels

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