Eleanor Frenzel Bookwalter "Dickie"

Proud Vassar graduate of 1946, Dickie returned to Indianapolis to raise her family with Charles “Bud” Bookwalter; but equally began her contributions as a civic leader in our city, state and further. The local Garden Club offered her the opportunity to serve as a most engaged member of the Conservation Committee of the Garden Club of America which preserved thousands of acres of Redwood and Spotted Owl habitat.

As an independent minded person, Dickie genuinely appreciated the value of real environmental advocacy and that it requires real investment. She was an original supporter of the Hoosier Environmental Council and in the last decade, wholeheartedly contributed to the Indiana Forest Alliance’s research, Ecoblite, and Forest Preservation in our city, state, forests, and Hoosier National Forest.

Her membership in Rachel’s Network gave her further opportunities to lobby for environmental protections in Congress, e.g. Tarsands pipeline prohibitions; and women’s reproductive rights. A keen observer of current events until last month, she tartly abjured the current administration’s dismissal of our shared values. She charged certain members of her family to carry on!

When many of our treasured city destinations began, Dickie proved to be a staunch supporter: The Indianapolis Zoo; the Children’s Museum; the Eiteljorg Museum. Dickie could be relied upon to Marshall Friends, Funds and Fun for such events as ‘To Market to Market’ and the Lockerbie Square revival. Perhaps her happiest work was to help provide for the construction of the Goodwill’s Greenhouse.

In her life, she was a horse woman, sailor, hunter, thoughtful reader, and excellent cook. She made a point of never mowing a lawn.

Although so many of her friends, the women and men of the Greatest Generation have gone before her, we who felt her generosity will sorely miss her.

Services will be private at Crown Hill Gothic Chapel and family plot.

Leppert Mortuary – Nora Chapel assisting with arrangements. To view the full obituary and to leave a memory, please visit www.leppertmortuary.com.