In Loving Memory

Eleanor Mae (Harrigan) Waters

Eleanor Mae (Harrigan) Waters, age 90, passed on the evening of August 26, 2022, in Colville, Washington, surrounded by loving family.  Eleanor was born on May 28, 1932 in Long Island, NY to Frederick and Dorothy Grace (Denton) Harrigan.

Raised on Long Island, Eleanor was a cheerleader before graduating from Hempstead High School, and shortly after graduation began working as a stenographer and secretary, recognized for her stellar shorthand skills. While out roller skating, an activity Eleanor and her sister Joan enjoyed during their free evenings, Eleanor would meet the love of her life, a strapping young man named Lester Waters Jr., at just 19 years old.  The two married two years later on January 11, 1953 at the St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Long Island.  Over the next five years, the young couple welcomed four children, Leslie, Richard, Carol and Bradley. After their youngest entered kindergarten, Eleanor reentered the work force, returning to her secretarial work, this time at a public library on Long Island.  Although she wasn't permitted to attend college in her younger years, Eleanor's career advanced over the years to the position of executive secretary for the director of the library, a position she and her children took great pride in. It was of great importance to her that all of her children obtain an education beyond high school.

Through hard work and sound financial planning, Eleanor and Lester were able to help all four of their children attend college. After they retired, Eleanor used the research skills she had gleaned at the library to immerse herself (and Lester) in genealogy, sometimes traveling to distant towns to collect birth, death, marriage and military service certificates. Together, they completed family trees for the Waters and Harrigan families, amassing a priceless collection of photographs of ancestors along the way. The couple also developed a passion for rescuing feral cats, participating for many years in the Trap-Neuter-Release program.

After Lester's passing in 2008, Eleanor relocated to a cottage near Queensbury, NY, closer to her son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Krista, and bringing four of the rescue cats with her.  Eleanor lived there independently for 8 years, only needing the occasional ride to the grocery store or to appointments in later years, until health issues arose and she moved in with Rich and Krista.

Eleanor stayed with Richard and Krista until shortly after her 89 ^th birthday in 2021, after which she returned with her daughter, Leslie, to Colville, Washington, and began her stay at Parkview Assisted Living.  In her short year here, Eleanor made many friends, both with her fellow Parkview residents, and its caring staff.  Shortly before her passing, all of her children and grandchildren were able to come visit her, and she was even able to spend time with her 10-month-old great-granddaughter and namesake, an encounter that brightened her smile like no other.

In her free time, Eleanor was an avid reader, a hobby she instilled in all of her descendants, a baker of all sorts of cookies and cakes, especially pound cake, and she carried her secretarial skills over to a volunteer secretarial position at her church, where her duties included assembling the weekly church newsletter. Above all, family was her life.

Eleanor was preceded in death by her parents, Frederick and Dorothy Harrigan, her husband, Lester A. Waters Jr., and her sister, Joan Boiko.  She is survived by her four children, Leslie Waters (Tom), Richard Waters (Krista), Carol Waters, and Brad Waters (Fran); grandchildren Luke Waters (Megan), Laura Waters, Ian Lake (Kassidy), Emily Waters and Tim Waters; and great grandchild Nora Lake.

Eleanor will be laid to rest with her loving husband, Lester, at the Calverton National Veterans Cemetery in Calverton, NY in a private family service.  Please visit the on-line memorial and sign the guestbook at www.danekasfuneralchapel.com .  Danekas Funeral Chapel is entrusted in care.