Elinor Louise M. West

Elinor was born on November 26, 1924 in Springfield, MA to George R. and Mildred Meiers. She grew up in West Springfield, MA and graduated from Springfield High School in 1942. She, like many in the “Rosy the Riveter” WWII generation worked in the armory factories in Springfield, MA during high school. She put herself through University of Massachusetts at Amherst with the intention of becoming a French teacher but instead graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry. During her college years, pin up girls were noticed for their beautiful legs and Elinor’s legs were so attractive that she was asked many times if photos of her legs could be sent to servicemen overseas. Not finding a job upon graduation, she when back to school for skills to work as a laboratory chemist and in the process was able to turn down a job offered to her in 1943 by Monsanto Labs. Later, Elinor worked running a medical lab in Rochester, NY while her husband received his PhD at University of Rochester.

In 1950, Elinor wed William T. West in West Springfield, MA. They were married until he passed away from complications from Alzheimer’s in 2008. When Bill got a job as a researcher at Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor, ME, Elinor and her family fell in love with Mount Desert Island. Later, when Bill’s job brought him to teach at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, Elinor and her family lived on Long Island, NY. Upon both Elinor and Bill’s retirement, they moved to Swanzey, NH in the 1990’s and lived in the Monadnock region ever since.

Elinor was an active and excellent bridge player both with friends and at the Keene Senior Center, where she also enjoyed line dancing. She was a member of the Alzheimer's Support group in Keene, NH for many years as well as the Pain Support Group at MAPS in Keene with Adele Michaelides-Thomas. She loved doing crossword puzzles, bird watching, and gardening to adorn her house. She spent her later years at Bentley Commons in Keene until her illness brought her to Good Shepherd in Jaffrey, NH. Throughout her entire life, she loved her family and was devoted to them through many very difficult times.

Elinor was predeceased by her husband William in 2008, her father and mother, her older and younger brother, two sisters-in-law, and a brother-in-law. She leaves behind her children: Elizabeth West of Keene, NH, and David West of Roanoke, VA; sister-in-law: Patricia Glasheen in West Springfield, MA; and nieces, nephews, their spouses and children in the West Springfield, MA area, Texas, and Washington State.

She also leaves behind many friends in the Swanzey and the Keene area, including the Keene Senior Center, The Uptown Salon, The Keene Alzheimer Support Group, the past Pain Group at MAPS, Bentley Commons, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, and at the Good Shepherd Nursing Facility in Jaffrey.

Family and friends are invited to call at Fletcher Funeral Home, 33 Marlboro Street, Keene, NH on Monday, August 20, 2018 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, August 21 at 11:00 am at the First Congregational Church, 679 Old Homestead Highway, Swanzey, NH. Burial will take place at the Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, 1390 Main Street, Agawam, MA on Wednesday, August 22 at 11:00 am.

Flowers will be gladly accepted. Donations in Elinor’s name may be made the Alzheimer’s Association, 166 South River Road #210, Bedford, NH 03110 (www.alz.org/manh) or Catholic Charities, 215 Myrtle Street, Manchester, NH 03104 (www.cc-nh.org).