Celebration of life: Eileen Mulligan

Noble Horizons Auxiliary and Noble Horizons will be hosting a celebration of life for Eileen Mulligan on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Community Room. Eileen was the founding administrator of Noble from 1972 until her retirement 45 years later in 2017. Upon retiring she achieved the status of five stars for Noble Horizons. Please join us in her honor for this celebration.

In Appreciation:

I was an idealistic third year college student pursuing a Social Work degree and I needed an annual seven week field period placement in 1976 and it was time to give elder care a whirl. And just like that, my introduction to Eileen Mulligan, Administrator of Noble Horizons, changed the trajectory of my life. On the facility tour, Eileen stopped and addressed a frail male resident in a wheelchair by title, putting a hand on his shoulder, and discreetly replaced his compromised lap blanket. This still frame of a singular caring gesture to ensure a modicum of dignity stayed with me, and epitomizes who Eileen was.

Those seven weeks in the Recreation Dept, entertaining and engaging seventy 65 -85-year-old guests, set the stage for a lifelong endeavor and a love of compassionate care, crazy and spontaneous fun and creativity, as well as customer service. Three years later, I was back at Noble as a full time Recreation Director.

With Eileen Mulligan at the helm of what was then a cutting-edge continuum of care model, her influence and professionalism developed and supported the ‘premier’ living standard for late life and end of life care. With a powerful sense of decency, commitment, and loyalty, Eileen created a culture that became the benchmark of quality of care for over four decades.
Eileen had an innate sense of right and wrong, and demanded the utmost respect. She was extremely organized, thorough, and observant, detail oriented. Her expectations were high, and she was a task master. Always on time, always hands on, always pragmatic, always with a let us get it done attitude. She was fiscally responsible, community minded, and generous. Eileen was an etiquette maven with exquisite taste in décor, art, fashion, fine wine, and delicious food. She was attentive to family and close friends, took epic vacations over the years, and had a string of little unpleasant dogs that she adored.

Our paths crisscrossed over those decades, while I wore many hats in many departments at Noble, as well as in the community. Eileen was a mentor and considered me an earnest voice of reason albeit an idealistic thorn in her side as she moved me around and brought me back time after time, when I’d need a change from entrepreneurial endeavors. I was fortunate to have had four family members live out their final years under her tenure, and three relatives had benefitted in short term rehab care.
(Eileen, coincidentally, was our tenant for years and I even did a little successful matchmaking!)

I was a stalwart supporter, as well as a dependable critic. Of course, Eileen had her less than stellar moments as we all do, some infuriating and some wildly stubborn. I am grateful for the collage of memories that bring me tears of joy and grief. Eileen did not deserve her condition (no one does, to be clear) but she had more than earned the quality care she received these last few years and the ultimate peace she now has.

Because of the thousands of lives affected directly and indirectly by her dedication and vision, I hope and pray that Eileen’s legacy will live on in the Salisbury community and in the industry of elder care in the Tri-State area. This is her gift to us and our gift to her.

Sandra Oliver

Lakeville

Latest News

Amenia’s Elk Ravine Farm funds conservation through unique tours

Jim Archer of Elk Ravine Farm takes a seat on Billy the water buffalo on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Nathan Miller

AMENIA — Jim Archer doesn’t look like a typical “influencer.” He doesn’t have a podcast and he doesn’t take jet-setting trips to Bali for advertising shoots.

But he has amassed a following of more than 100,000 people across his Instagram and TikTok accounts. Archer shows off his unique collection of farm animals and produces educational content about ecology and the environment all from Elk Ravine Farm, his property on Smithfield Valley Road in Amenia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sharon Dennis Rosen

SHARON — Sharon Dennis Rosen, 83, died on Aug. 8, 2025, in New York City.

Born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, she grew up on her parents’ farm and attended Sharon Center School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She went on to study at Skidmore College before moving to New York City, where she married Dr. Harvey Rosen and together they raised two children.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between’ at the Moviehouse

Claire and Garland Jeffreys in the film “The King of In Between.”

Still from "The King of In between"

There is a scene in “The King of In Between,” a documentary about musician Garland Jeffreys, that shows his name as the answer to a question on the TV show “Jeopardy!”

“This moment was the film in a nutshell,” said Claire Jeffreys, the film’s producer and director, and Garland’s wife of 40 years. “Nobody knows the answer,” she continued. “So, you’re cool enough to be a Jeopardy question, but you’re still obscure enough that not one of the contestants even had a glimmer of the answer.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Haystack Book Festival: writers in conversation

The Haystack Book Festival, a program of the Norfolk Hub, brings renowned writers and thinkers to Norfolk for conversation. Celebrating its fifth season this fall, the festival will gather 18 writers for discussions at the Norfolk Library on Sept. 20 and Oct. 3 through 5.

Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir “Eastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.”Haystack Book Festival

Keep ReadingShow less