Eleanor Anne Sternlof

Eleanor Anne Sternlof

LIME ROCK — Eleanor Anne Sternlof (née de Guise) of White Hollow Road passed away on April 25, 2025 at Geer Village in North Canaan, Connecticut. She was 94 and the loving wife of the late Paul William Sternlof, who died on August 12, 2005.

Eleanor was born July 14, 1930 in Lowell, Massachusetts as the eldest child of the late George and Vera (née Gale) de Guise. Eleanor graduated from Chelmsford High School in 1948 and from Clark University in 1954. She met Paul as a fellow student at Clark and they married in May 1954.

Eleanor worked for Mohawk Airlines while Paul earned his MBA in Hospital Administration at Yale University. In 1958 they moved to Baltimore, Maryland and started a family while Paul worked as Assistant Administrator at Baltimore General Hospital.

Their first two children, Karl and Kurt, were born in Baltimore. They moved to Sharon in 1962 when Paul became President of Sharon Hospital. Two more children followed, Mark and Erika, and the family settled on White Hollow Road in 1965.

Eleanor and Paul were together avid beekeepers, vegetable gardeners, brewers of mead and motorcycle enthusiasts. She was a skilled seamstress, doll maker, canner and general DIYer who learned carpentry taking adult-ed classes at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. In 1977, while her two middle boys were students there, Eleanor took a job in the Superintendent’s Office and quickly became notorious for riding her motorcycle to work. She retired in 1992.

In 1995, Eleanor and Paul bought a winter home on Fripp Island, SC and made many new friends. She volunteered for years there as a teaching aide at the public school and sang alto in the island choir. After Paul passed, Eleanor spent a decade fulfilling her lifelong dream of world travel by visiting Peru, Cuba, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Albania, Russia and more with a close-knit band of fellow adventurers. She moved back to White Hollow full-time in June 2020 and finally to Geer Village in October 2021.
Eleanor is survived by her children, Karl Sternlof (Kerin Woods) of New London, Connecticut, Kurt Sternlof of Newton, Massachusetts, Mark Sternlof of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Erika Sternlof of Bath, Maine; her grandchildren, Emma Sternlof (Michael Conlin) of Durham, North Carolina, Nora Sternlof of Chicago, Illinois and Erik Sternlof of Newton, Massachusetts; her great grandchild Brian Conlin and her sister Evelyn Webber of Rochester, New York.

Memorial activities will be announced at a later date. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of all arrangements.

Latest News

Test MN Newsletter - CH

Keep ReadingShow less
Summer Nights of Canaan

Wednesday, July 16

Cobbler n’ Cream
5 to 7 p.m.
Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery | 324 Norfolk Rd.

Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park

Keep ReadingShow less
When the guide gets it wrong

Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.

Dee Salomon

After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.

At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.

Keep ReadingShow less
A few highlights from Upstate Art Weekend 2025

Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”

Brian Gersten

Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.

Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:

Keep ReadingShow less