Eleanore Leslie Knecht (née Chadwick) was born Friday, August 20, 1937 in Barneghat, New Jersey .
she died Wednesday, September 9, 2020. her recorded age was 83.
Eleanore Knecht, 83, passed away suddenly from natural causes (non-COVID-19) on September 9, 2020.
She was born to the late George and Mildred Chadwick, August 20, 1937, in Barnegat, New Jersey. She graduated from Philadelphia Academy in 1954 and received a BS in Math from Walla Walla University in 1958.
She married Bernath (B.L.) Knecht in 1956. They lived in Walla Walla, Washington for four years prior to moving to Worthington, Ohio in 1960. Eleanore is survived by her husband, Bernath (B.L.); two children: Marlin Knecht, of Colorado; and Verna Bernoi and husband Michael, of Maryland. She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Jamie Bernoi Minney and husband, Gary, August Knecht, Anya Knecht, Matthew Bernoi, Mickey Bernoi, Elijah Knecht, Akele Knecht Reed and husband, Joshua, and Emmy Knecht.
Eleanore used her administrative and business skills, as well as her love for people in her various businesses. After teaching school for a few years, she sold Avon, then became an Avon District Sales Manager, was a Cambridge distributor, ran a Word Processing business called WordPlay, and did the accounting for the Worthington Seventh-day Adventist Church and the church school. She also managed rental properties for Harding Heritage Foundation as well as their personal rental properties. Eleanore enjoyed connecting with people. She was always ready with a smile and something positive to say.
Eleanore was active in the Worthington Seventh-day Adventist Church where she shared her talents as sabbath school teacher, hospitality leader, Pathfinder leader, church treasurer and through serving on the church board. She had great organizational skills and enjoyed connecting with people. She was a person with a servant’s heart, frequently helping others when she could, which she did through Meals on Wheels, and driving people to appointments. Eleanore and B.L. also served on mission trips to Santa Domingo and Venezuela. She became a member of Worthington Women’s Club (WWC) and served as Secretary, Vice-President and then President in 1990-91. She participated in the WWC special interest groups including Merry Munchers, Lunch Bunch, Book Club, Great Discussions and Arm-Chair Travelers.
Eleanore was an avid reader and frequented the library often. She enjoyed cooking and planning dinners for church groups and family gatherings. Another love was the outdoors and traveling. The family spent many weekends and family vacations camping, hiking, back-packing, white-water rafting and canoeing, including a five-day canoe trip in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada. Their travels took them to all fifty states and many national parks. In addition to the fifty states, Eleanore and BL traveled to many continents and countries around the world, including: Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and South and Central America.
Eleanore loved her family and traveled to visit children and grandchildren when possible and arranged a few family vacations that included the multiple generations. She always had a ready smile and wanted to know how each person was doing. She will be remembered for her smiles, hugs, laughter, pies and cookies and all the love she shared.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, September 17, 2020, from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Worthington Seventh-day Adventist Church (fellowship hall), 385 East Dublin Granville Road. The memorial service will be held at Worthington Seventh-day Adventist Church on Friday, September 18, 2020 at 12:30 p.m. followed by the burial at Flint cemetery. For those unable to attend in person, the service may be viewed from the Seventh Day Adventist website. Please use this link https://video.ibm.com/channel/secondservice at the time of the service. After service times please use https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8vH7YVggN3xJbSWCbqtzw/videos to watch a recorded video.
Donations may be given to the Worthington Seventh Day Adventist Church.