Elinore Nudelman

Elinore Katherine Maytrott was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1923. Her humble beginnings may help explain her empathy for those less fortunate and for wanting to give back to the world. It also explains why I felt she should be honored in the Walk of the Heroines.

Elinore’s father abandoned her mother, her sister, and her shortly after she was born. She spent large portions of her childhood moving from various friends and relatives homes when her divorced mother was unable to care for her. At one point, her bed consisted of two dining chairs pushed together in her aunt’s dining room. She had few possessions, except for a bicycle she bought for two dollars and refurbished herself was her treasure; she had wheels! Her sister was much older and was married with a family of her own when Elinore started school. The first opportunity she had to live with her mother came when she was sixteen years old. She overcame so many obstacles in life to become the caring woman who always had a smile for everyone.

At Newtown High School, Elinore loved art, gymnastics, and her membership in the Sokol Club. After graduating in June 1941, she attended Long Island University as an art major. During this time, she met Jerome Nudelman also of Brooklyn, and after a courtship interrupted by Jerry’s service in the Army Infantry and Elinore’s service in the Navy WAVES, they married in 1945.

After brief residences in Brooklyn, Puerto Rico, and Texas, they moved to Portland in 1961 and, although they still traveled the world together, they put down roots in Oregon for good. Elinore and Jerry celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary in July 2005 with many family and friends. She was very devoted to Jerry, her husband, companion, confidante, and willing sparring partner for six decades.

During her forty-four years in Oregon, she was an ardent supporter of Portland State University Athletics—few football or basketball games have been played at home without hearing her cheers from the forty-five yard line or from the stands of the Stott Center. She was an active member of St. John Fisher Catholic Church where she heeded the call to service and was never without a project, be it leading a Girl Scout troop, volunteering as a P.E. teacher, fund-raising for various charities, or serving hot meals for almost twelve years to the elderly at Loaves and Fishes. She unknowingly passed on her values and beliefs of giving back to the community to her family and friends and so many who came in contact with her. Few people I know were as dedicated to so many different causes.

After being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, she added one more cause to her roster. She campaigned vigorously for the ALS Society of Oregon, organizing “Elinore’s Vikings,” a team of three hundred friends and PSU athletes, to participate in its annual fund-raising “Walk to D’Feet ALS.”

Even in the final stages of this devastating disease, Elinore had a smile and a joke for everyone. You always felt better about the world and yourself after spending just a few minutes with her. She was generous to a fault; a skilled seamstress and cook; a witty and acerbic conversationalist, as quick when lavishing praise as she was with a sharp retort; a fiercely protective friend; a bon vivant who enjoyed a Brandy Alexander and a spin around the dance floor; a gifted crossword puzzle-solver; a devout Catholic; and an overall lover and seeker of good company, which she found in many friends and family members to whom she devoted herself so tirelessly. Elinore died in 2005: ALS destroyed her body, but never her spirit! She was widely loved and respected and is deeply missed.

She was an extraordinary woman in all aspects of her life and set an example we should all aspire to follow.