Eleanor (Muendel) Blakesley

Eleanor (Muendel) Blakesley, 98, of Amherst, formerly of Easthampton and Florence, died peacefully on Monday, August 2, 2021 at the Center for Extended Care at Amherst, MA with family by her side.  She was born June 21, 1923, in Easthampton, MA, daughter of the late George C. Muendel and Lillian (Schwam) Muendel of Easthampton, MA. 

Eleanor was a graduate of Easthampton High School and the former Northampton Commercial College.  She was employed by the Metropolitan Mutual Insurance Company, and then was a long-time employee of the Whiting Oil Company.  She was an active member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Easthampton, where she also served as Treasurer for over 17 years.

Ms. Blakesley loved cats, gardening in her spectacular wildflower garden at her home in Florence, her good friends and family.  She was an artist who painted beautiful landscapes that she gifted to her family and friends.  She also had a long-time hobby of tracing her family Genealogy and assembling and sharing the extensive volumes.  This pursuit enabled her to connect with family far and wide, and led to travels sometimes accompanied by her close friends, both near and as far away as Germany.  Eleanor grew up on Clark Street in Easthampton, on the base of Mt. Tom, and she loved that mountain.  Many have heard her tell stories of her childhood eating asparagus from her family’s garden and sour cherry pie from the sour cherry tree, and of hiking all over her beloved Mt. Tom with her friends and her father.  She also watched the second Mt. Tom Summit House burn down from her home in 1929, and she collected and shared memorabilia of the summit house, some of which can be seen at the Easthampton Savings Bank.

Eleanor was predeceased by her infant brother Robert George (Bobby) Muendel, and her daughter Donna M. King, formerly of Easthampton, MA.  She is survived by her grandson, Chad R. King of Springfield, MA, and Granddaughter Tracy Robles three nieces, Linda Diane Weit of Easthampton, MA, Terry Rogers Trudeau and her husband David of Ware, MA, and Deborah M. Bergeron and her husband Thomas of Gill, MA, and several great nieces and nephews.  Eleanor also left several cousins across the country, and was especially close with Andrew Hayden of Essex Junction, Vermont, one of the sons of her first cousin Marie (Schwam) Hayden.

A Funeral service for Eleanor will be held at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 2 Clark Street, Easthampton, MA at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 13, 2021.  Burial is private and will be held in Clinton, MA. The Mitchell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements www.mitchellcofuneralhome.com

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