Eleanor A. Strickland, a lifelong resident of Southampton and a retired U.S. Postal Service employee, died on October 13 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing. She was 81.
Ms. Strickland was the daughter of Lawrence and Mabel Strickland of Water Mill and attended the Hayground School until it closed in 1946 and merged with the Southampton School District. After graduating from Southampton High School, she worked for the New York Telephone Company as a switchboard operator. She also worked for various local businesses as a bookkeeper.
In the late 1960s, she accepted a position at the Water Mill Post Office, and she worked as a clerk for many years under then Postmaster Arthur Muller. She was later transferred to the Bridgehampton Post Office, retiring after 30 years as head clerk.
Survivors said her quiet and courteous manner served her well in her work and that she was well liked and appreciated by the many postal patrons in the Bridgehampton community.
For 60 years she had been an active member of first the Water Mill and then the Southampton congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. For two years in the late 1960s, she accepted an assignment in the pioneer ministry to work in isolated territories in Maine. She also enjoyed taking annual trips to Bible conventions in several New England states.
After she suffered a brain aneurysm in 2000 her health declined, and in 2008 she entered the Hamptons Center, which she came to view as her new home.
Ms. Strickland is survived by two brothers, Steward Strickland of Chicago and Mark Strickland of California; a sister, Suzanne Howell of Riverhead; a daughter, Elizabeth Lech of New Jersey; five grandchildren; and 14 nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a brother, Lawrence H. Strickland.
Funeral arrangements are private, with burial at Hayground Cemetery.
on Oct 19, 2015