Eleanor Mary (Gallagher) Blair

3/12/1922-10/27/2020

On March 12, 1922, in Philadelphia, PA, a baby girl, Eleanor, was born to an Austrian immigrant mother, Pauline Marx, and an Irish American father, John Gallagher. Her parents weren't wealthy and worked hard to make ends meet for Eleanor and her older brother, Johnny. As a result, she spent a great deal of time as a child with her maternal grandparents who owned a bakery in the city. That's where Eleanor first learned the importance of paying attention to detail and the value of hard work, not to mention her life-long love of good bread and pastries.

She learned about the finer things in life while working at a wealthy family's estate (the Biddle family) on Philadelphia's Main Line near Villanova. Eleanor's parents worked and lived at the estate along with her and her brother. She told stories of spending hours in the kitchen peeling grapes so that the family didn't have to eat the sometimes-bitter grape skins. She also told stories of helping her father with the family's show horses, including one harrowing night when she fell down the hay chute into a terrified stallion's stall. She said her cries of "Daddy…, your sweetheart has fallen down the hole" were eventually heard by her father who rushed to her rescue.

As a young teen, Eleanor met a man who was nine years her senior, Robert John Blair. Bob would often played cards with her father. Eleanor was a beauty, even at an early age, and she quickly caught Bob's eye. She and Bob were married when she was just 17; he was 26. Their first son, Robert John Blair, Jr., was born on February 2, 1941. The family settled into daily life, with Eleanor staying at home with "Bobby," and Bob working multiple jobs (including ice truck driver and bartender), to make ends meet. Eventually, Bob became an electrician, working as a lineman and joining the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union. Not long afterward, Bob enlisted in the Navy to join the battle against Imperial Japan in the South Pacific. It was his experience as a lineman that helped him become a Chief Petty Officer in the Seabees (the naval engineering division) and he was deployed to the Philippine Islands to help build the infrastructure necessary to support U.S. troops. During wartime, Eleanor did what many women of her era did. She worked to support the war effort. She drove a parcel post truck delivering packages; she also took her young son to school every day and maintained the home praying that Bob would come home to resume normal life after the war.

Fortunately, Bob returned from the battlefield a decorated veteran. After his return, they expanded their family with a second son, John Robert Blair (aka "Jack" and "Dain Eric") born on April 15, 1947. The growing family bought their first home in Ridley Park, PA, and Bob started working at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as an electrician. After settling into suburban life for several years, Bob decided he needed to expand his horizons and his earnings by taking a job with the Panama Canal Company. Eleanor, who loved her home in Ridley Park, dug in her heels saying he should go "try living in Panama" before she would uproot her young family and move them to a third-world country. While a traditional housewife, Eleanor was extremely independent and very strong willed (traits that only grew stronger with age). It took Bob two years to convince Eleanor that life in the Panama Canal Zone was ideally suited to raising "the boys" and that it was a tropical paradise where she could enjoy beaches, swimming pools and shopping for exotic wares from all over the world.

Eleanor finally agreed and the family moved to Cristóbal on the Atlantic Side of the Isthmus of Panama in 1952. What she had resisted so emphatically for so long, was to become the happiest time of her life as Eleanor quickly came to love her adopted country. She always enjoyed the outdoors and took full advantage of Panama's year-round summer-like weather, becoming a Red Cross 100+ mile swimmer whose lap log was the envy of many. She enjoyed her sons' Little League games and scouting activities. She also became the "band mom" when younger son, Dain organized a rock band called "The Castaways." On July 18, 1957, Bob and Eleanor welcomed their third child, a girl, who they named Marjorie.

As Bob's career blossomed, Eleanor enjoyed being a new mom again as well as entertaining and socializing. Probably the highlight of the social aspect of her life in Panama was when Bob was selected to work with the Mitsubishi Company of Japan to help develop the design for new towing locomotives for the Panama Canal, replacing the original locomotives (called Mules) that started service in 1914, the year the Panama Canal opened. Bob was assigned to go to Tokyo to work with the engineers at Mitsubishi to come up with the requirements and design. The months he spent in Japan were the highlight of his career. When the Japanese engineers visited the Canal Zone, he took responsibility for showing the engineers around Panama. Eleanor took on the responsibility of entertaining and hosting many fabulous meals to return the hospitality shown her husband when he visited Japan.

The years in paradise passed quickly. First, Bobby graduated from high school and joined the U.S. Air Force. Seven years later, Dain left Panama to attend college in St. Petersburg, Florida, and he subsequently moved to Daytona Beach. A decade later, in 1975, Marjorie, left her birthplace to go to college in Maryland. Bob had just one year left prior to his mandatory retirement. Both Bob and Eleanor stressed about the decision to retire and leave Panama after calling it home for nearly 25 years, or potentially stay there, becoming true expatriates. Eventually they decided to move to Daytona Beach, where their second son Dain had put down roots and Marjorie had transferred to complete her college education. They decided the beach and warm weather would be the closest they could get to Panama while re-patriating themselves back to U.S. soil. That happened in 1976. They initially rented an apartment in Ormond Beach prior to purchasing their home in Port Orange in 1978…, the same home Eleanor lived in until her death.

As change adverse as she always was, Eleanor acclimated to her new home and life in Florida with gusto. She quickly started jogging on the world-famous Daytona Beach, logging countless hundreds of miles, just as she had done with her swimming in the Canal Zone. She also loved shopping and enjoyed spending hours in stores. She also joined Indigo Lakes Health Club and made many good friends among the ladies who exercised at the club.

Another great joy for Eleanor was her pets. She loved all animals and had many of them over her lifetime, including dogs, cats and birds, but also more exotic types like ducks and even squirrels, three of which she named Hickory, Walnut and Peanut after finding them still with their eyes closed laying in a ditch in her neighborhood. Those squirrels, along with a flying squirrel named Rocky Bounce who joined the menagerie along the way, enjoyed full lives with her, living in her house and on her back porch.

There is no doubt that Eleanor had a very long and unique life. While happy alone, she never met a stranger, striking up conversation readily with anyone she encountered. That said, she only ever had a few close friends. Among those she cherished most in the latter part of her life were her long-time neighbor (aka, her "boyfriend") Billy Allen, and her caretaker and neighborhood friend, Kathy Jensen.

Eleanor's strong will, kind heart and spunky spirit live on in her three children, as well as in their children, and their children's children. Children include Robert (Bob) Blair, Jr., Dain (Jack) Blair and Marjorie Blair Bulone; seven grandchildren, Keith Blair, Jennifer Blair Bono, Dain (DJ) Blair, Jr., Justin Blair, Taylor Blair, Christopher Bulone and Lauren Bulone. She also leaves behind nine great grandchildren. Her passing is deeply mourned, and her presence on Earth will be a cherished memory by all who were fortunate to know her.

Memorial Donations in Eleanor's name would be most appreciated at the following online link:
Birds in Helping Hands

or by mail at:
Birds in Helping Hands
8185 129th Lane N.
Seminole  FL  33776