Eleanor Cuthrell

Eleanor Johnson Cuthrell (28 May 1937- 2 February 2022) Born in Melrose, Mass., the daughter of Maynard Stickney Johnson and Arlene Howland Pike Johnson, Eleanor spent her early years growing up in the wilds of Lake Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge, NC, where her father, a college professor of zoology and entomology, had taken a job as Refuge Manager during the Great Depression. By the late 1940s, her family moved south of the Pamlico River to Aurora, NC, where in 8th grade, she met her future husband, Frank Cuthrell. When her father's civil service job took him to Japan, Eleanor attended Narimasu High School, located in the Grant Heights area of Tokyo, where the street had formerly served as an airport runway. During these years she enjoyed such adventures as climbing Mt Fuji, the tallest peak in Japan. Returning stateside in 1955, she attended East Carolina, where she married Frank Cuthrell in 1957, while also training for the family business of teaching, following in the footsteps of both parents and her two older sisters. In the early 1970s, she established the first kindergarten program at Sacred Heart Catholic School, where, for more than a quarter of a century, she instructed scores of energetic five-year-olds in letters, numbers and everything else. In 1977, she earned a Master’s of Education from Virginia Tech, and after both her children left for college, she even took over their newspaper route for a couple of years. Following her retirement in 2000, she enjoyed more time for reading and daily walks and remained an active member of Mount Vernon United Methodist Church. Preceded in death by her sisters, Bertha Adams and Ruth Owens, she is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, Frank P. Cuthrell; two children: Jane Kirsch (Mitch) and Brian Cuthrell; her younger sister Caroline Pickett of Ohio; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 25, 2022 11:00am at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church with Reverend Jae W. Cho officiating.