Eleanor L Collen

A private graveside service will be held at Hollywood Cemetery in Union, New Jersey for Eleanor L. Collen, 86, of Granville.

Mrs. Collen passed away Thursday at SharonBrooke in Newark. She was born April 10, 1922 in Newark, NJ to the late Rudolph and Lillian (Liede) Lercher.

After growing up in the suburbs of New York City, Eleanor attended the Berkeley Secretarial School and worked in various administrative functions for General Motors Corporation. During World War II, she worked for the Army Air Forces and after the war held a job at the Atomic Energy Commission.  After marriage and raising children in Potomac, Maryland, she returned to work as a library assistant and secretary for the Montgomery County Public School system.

Her passions for art led her to volunteer at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C.  She also loved to travel and did so extensively, particularly to third world countries. Then she and her husband retired to Granville, Ohio. As a life-long learner, she studied Art History and Native American culture at local colleges. She was a charter member of NMWA and the National Museum of the American Indian and volunteered locally at the Sinnett House.

She loved animals of all kinds and was an active supporter of the National Wildlife Federation and the ASPCA.  She particularly loved birds, reading, and knitting.  She had a deep and abiding faith, and was a member of Centenary United Methodist Church in Granville where she was a special friend of the Morning Glory Circle. A loving mother and grandmother, she was very active in her children's lives and the lives of her five grandsons.

Surviving are her son Bruce D. Collen of Granville; daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn S. Collen-DuBose and Jack E. DuBose of Grantsville, MD; grandsons, Tyler, Christopher, and Gregory Collen and Collen and Brooks DuBose.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Edwin G. Collen.

No local services or visitation will be held. Arrangements are in the care of McPeek Funeral Home in Granville. Visit www.mcpeekfuneralhome.com to sign an online guestbook or send condolences.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ASPCA, 424 E. 92nd Street. New York, NY, 10128-6804 or the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005.