Obituary of Eleanor R Vincent

Eleanor R. Vincent, 93, died Sunday, September 25, 2016 in Belfast, Maine with family by her side. Eleanor was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania to William Leon Rinehart and Alice Adine MacPhetridge. During her childhood, she moved with her family from western Pennsylvania to Arlington and Weston, Massachusetts. She was graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University in 1944 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Romance Languages and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1946, Eleanor married James R. Funderburk and they raised five children, relocating from New England to Los Angeles, California in the 1950s, returning to Litchfield, Connecticut in the 1960s, and eventually moving to Orange Park, Florida in the 1970s. Eleanor had a long tenure as a Girl Scout and led many Scout troops while her children were young. She was actively engaged in church and community service. She enjoyed travel with family as well as alone, frequently traveled internationally, and was known to take solo road trips of a thousand miles or more well into her 80s. Eleanor had a lifelong love of music and singing and she dreamed of becoming an opera singer. She had the opportunity to sing professionally one summer at the Central City Opera House in Colorado. Throughout her life she was a frequent soloist with her church choir and at weddings and other special events. She made her marriage and raising her children her first priority and brought a love of music to her children and many others in her life; family gatherings and long road trips often included singing with enthusiastic and creative harmony. Eleanor was active in community theater musicals and supported young artists through her long-term involvement in The National Society of Arts and Letters. In 1977, Eleanor married Durrell Vincent in Orange Park, Florida. She became a much-loved step-mother and step-grandmother. The word most often used to describe her by family and friends is “gracious.” She had a knack for making one feel comfortable and loved, and she had a genuine interest in others. Eleanor is predeceased by parents and her husbands; her two sisters, Lois Rinehart and Alice Allen; daughter, Lois Funderburk Murphy; son-in-law, Dr. Ted Shaw; step-daughter, Carol Vincent Staudt; and great-granddaughter, Bella Mae. She is survived by children: Susan Rainsley and her husband, Glen of Appleton, Maine; Anne Funderburk and her husband, Steve Benedict of Durham, Maine; daughter, Dr. Jamie Funderburk of Gainesville, Florida; son, Robert Funderburk and his wife, Rebecca Spear of Bozeman, Montana; son-in-law, Dr. Kenneth Murphy of Flagler Beach, Florida; and step-son, Richard H. Vincent, and his wife, Anne of Atlanta, Georgia. She also leaves eighteen grandchildren and step-grandchildren and a host of much-loved great-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. A memorial celebration of life service will be held at 12 noon on Saturday, July 29, 2017 at First Baptist Church of Weston, 657 Boston Post Road, Weston, Massachusetts. Eleanor expressly requested that those who remember her do so with joy and laughter, that her ashes be interred in a family plot at Linwood Cemetery in Weston, Massachusetts, and that those who choose to, make donations to a charity of their choice in lieu of flowers.