Barschall, Eleanor F. "Hephy" (Madison) - died Monday, Dec. 12, 2005.

Eleanor was born Sept. 2, 1921 in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, NJ. Hephy's childhood was notable because she very nearly died of celiac disease. She was one of a handful of children who first profited from the discovery of the cure, which involved a diet of bananas. Hephy attended Miss Beard's School, now called Beard Morristown from kindergarten to graduation. Hephy went to Mt. Holyoke College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She was also selected May Queen in her senior year.

Hephy also got a master's degree in education from New York University, her first co-ed educational experience. For a time, she worked in the family business, The Folsom Arms Company, but was replaced by her brother, because of family sexism. During World War II, Hephy worked in coding at General Electric, a job she lost after the war was over, also due to sexism. She retained a lifelong love of word puzzles stemming at least in part from her coding work.

Hephy became a teacher and she was proud that one of her first teaching assignments was in a racially integrated school in Montclair, N.J. In 1949, she adventured to what was then still almost the Wild West and took a teaching position in Los Alamos, N.M, where she taught the children of the physicists who had worked developing the world's first nuclear weapons. There, at a square dance, she met her future husband, Henry "Heinz" Barschall, one of those physicists. In Los Alamos, she developed a strong interest in handicrafts from the Native American peoples of the Southwest. She eventually married Heinz in 1955, a bold move, because Heinz's ancestry was Jewish and her father was anti-Semitic.

Hephy moved to Madison, in 1955, to live with her new husband, who was now a professor at the University of Wisconsin. Heinz did not like the name "Hephy," so Hephy became Eleanor in Madison. Eleanor had two children, Anne in 1956 and Peter in 1958. Eleanor suffered from depression, but took comfort in her music. She was a gifted classical pianist, delighting in playing all the most complex 18th and 19th century pieces on her baby grand piano. Eleanor also had a beautiful lyric soprano voice. She was a devoted participant in the church choir at St. Andrew's Church and in the Madison Symphony Chorus for at least 30 years.

Once her children were in school, Eleanor devoted herself to volunteer work. She felt it would be wrong for her to take a paying job away from someone who needed the money, when Heinz was making enough as a professor to support the family. She loved the League of Women Voters, which built on the feminist traditions she had learned at Mt. Holyoke. Eventually she became vice president of the League for Dane County. She also enjoyed lobbying government on issues that concerned her. One of these was nuclear power. Unlike so many other activists in this area, she believed fervently in this technology, because the fuel was plentiful and renewable, and produced no smoke to pollute the air. She was convinced that the nuclear waste issues were manageable.

From the earliest age, she loved hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She also went hunting with her father as a teenager. She was an avid bicyclist. She took a volunteer position on the pedestrian bike committee for the city of Madison. She was elected chair of that committee, which put her on the Transportation Commission of the city, still as a volunteer. She participated in the planning of the pedestrian and bicycle paths that now grace the city. Heinz and Eleanor traveled extensively in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

In old age, after Heinz's death, she suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, stenosis of the spine, and deteriorating vision. She was cared for in her home by a staff that gave her the best care that has ever been seen on this planet. Her caregivers included Pat, Gertrude Bohmer, Jennifer Scott, Connie Golden, Chris Ruppelt, Sharon Flanagan, Sherry Schoer, Chris Stuesser, Wendy Hutton, Sharon Huggins, Janet Bauer, Cindy McCallum, Barb Carrick, Ginny Wickman, Jackie Luyet, Barb Lanser, Kelly Leatherbury, Elena Ehlert, Amy Magnussen, Jane Wright, and Roxane Dachman along with a number of others. For nine years, these dedicated women turned what might have been a depressing situation into a happy and fulfilling home life, where Eleanor continued to go on a broad variety of outings. Her family would like to extend a special thanks to this staff for their outstanding and creative service.

Eleanor is survived by her brother, Hank Folsom; her children Anne and Peter Barschall; three grandchildren, David and Joseph McKenney-Barschall and Mai Ly Cohen Barschall; and eight nieces and nephews.

A memorial service was held Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006, at 2 p.m. at ST. ANDREWS CHURCH, 1833 Regent Street. It was preceded by an hour's visitation with the family at 1 pm and followed by a reception at the church.

There will be a second memorial service this summer in Randolph, N.H.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory can be given to:

The Randolph Public Library Building Fund
c/o Roberta Arbree Treasurer
101 US Rte 2, Randolph NH 03593

or to the League of Women Voters of Dane County.

From the Wisconsin State Journal, Sunday, December 18, 2005