Eleanor Foley Caulfield

COLUMBIA - Eleanor (Ellie) Caulfield, died peacefully at her home in Columbia, SC the morning of January 12, 2022. She had recently celebrated her 88th birthday, where she rejoiced in the balloon on her mailbox and the cake shared by neighbors. She was born in Brockton, Massachusetts and lived in 2 countries and 10 states while married for 58 years to the love of her life and her best friend, Robert N. Caulfield, who predeceased her on December 24, 2011. She was blessed with three children, Scott (Alexandra), of Yarmouth, Maine, who was born in Hawaii, Susan, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who was born in New York City, and Eric (Catherine), of Irmo, South Carolina, who was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. All born within 38 months, which gives a sense of the life she would live as a wife to an Army officer. She and Bob traveled the world together and went to 6 of the 7 continents. Ellie was not as big a fan of travel as Bob but would go anywhere with Bob and delighted the rest of us with stories of her travels. Ellie and Bob lived in West Germany (later Germany) for 22 years. Ellie was fluent in German and to this day kept in touch with friends back in Ramstein, Hüffelsheim, and Bad Kreuznach. Ellie loved to be with people and loved a good party. She and Bob threw many great parties over the years, including themed events in Sierra Vista, AZ, where the yard and house would be filled with their friends. At the last big party (Sue’s 60th), Ellie (at 84) regaled the company by dancing to Proud Mary.

Ellie was a member of Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church and enjoyed participating in the sewing and knitting groups. She loved making things for ministry work, to be shared with others. She enjoyed sewing clothes for her daughter and granddaughters and was quite adept with fabric and thread. While in Sierra Vista for 14 years, Ellie won numerous blue ribbons for her salsas, relishes, and other delights. She loved a garden and would create gardening space wherever she lived. Like her mother, Elsie Foley, Ellie loved flowers and creating beautiful spaces for plants, at times accented with her ceramic bunnies with red bows around their necks.

Ellie loved to play golf and was in a women’s league for most of her years in Sierra Vista. She always spoke of her golf buddies as the best people and enjoyed their friendship over the years. She and Bob often vacationed in Hawaii (where they first lived together) and became life-long friends with people they met on the golf course.

Ellie was a great correspondent, still sending hand-written notes to friends and family. She liked to keep in touch and give people a smile through the mail. She continued to keep in touch with people whom she first met over 60 years ago and continued to visit them until Covid prevented safe travel. She would want all of her friends to know how much each of them meant to her and how much she held them in her heart.

Ellie was quite fond of her grand-fur-babies, with photos of Molly, Leonard and Elphaba always on the fridge. In the last year, Ellie delighted in an electronic photo frame that showed photos emailed by family members. She recently told one grandson that the photo frame needed a good picture of his cat! Now there is one. She liked to know what was going on with others and really enjoyed seeing photos of them.

Ellie was blessed to have Eric and Catherine nearby and they were a huge source of support and comfort to her these last several years. She was grateful to her community of friends and would sit at the edge of her garage so that she could wave to neighbors and have conversations. Ellie was predeceased by her three siblings, Robert Foley, Jean (Chuck) Mannion, and Tom (Abbie) Foley, Jr. Ellie is survived by her three children, four grandchildren (Jeff, Greg, Kate, and Meg), and three greatgrandchildren (Julia, Conrad, and Alice), as well as many nieces and nephews (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina). She is also survived by her brother-in-law, William (Audrey) Caulfield (Boston) and their daughters (Tracy, Hillary, and Lindsey), sons-in-law, and great-nieces and nephews.

She will be interred with Bob at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Massachusetts and the family will have a celebration of her life later in the summer of 2022.

A memorial service will be held on January 20, 2022 at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 6952 St. Andrews Road, Columbia, SC 29212. The family will receive guests starting at 10:00 a.m. with a memorial service starting at 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Happy Wheels, Inc, PO Box 406, Lexington, SC 29071,

www.happywheelsinc.org.