Eleanora (Wrinn) Schurdak

Eleanora (Wrinn) Schurdak, 88, of Kirkland Village, died on November 23rd. Born in New Haven, CT, Eleanora attended the Gateway School for Girls before attending Lasell College in Newton, MA. After college, Eleanora returned to New Haven, where she met her husband, John, to whom she was married for 62 years. John predeceased her this past April.
The majority of Eleanora’s married years were spent raising four children in Bedford Village, NY. She was an avid gardener, belonging to both the Bedford Village and Hopp Ground Garden Clubs. It was through her garden club memberships that Eleanora came to love the art of Japanese flower arranging, known as Ikenobo. While the Schurdak children’s friends had holiday tables teeming with flowers, the Schurdak holiday table display invariably had a simple tree branch with three to five flowers. Eleanora also loved the game of tennis and, in the winter months, paddle tennis. She had a regular tennis group of friends and played tennis into her early seventies. She was a gourmet cook: Always trying new recipes and, before it gained popularity, pairing meals to fresh food that was seasonally available.
As her children grew older, Eleanora also devoted time to several organizations: As a teacher’s aide, as the Executive Assistant to Bedford’s Community Resource Center and to the Drug Abuse Prevention Council, and as a volunteer in the Bedford Free Library. 
A lover of the arts, Eleanora was a frequent visitor to museums, concerts, and the theater. She enjoyed traveling and was a devoted reader of nonfiction, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Her presence in the library at Kirkland Village will surely be missed. 
Friends and family would describe Eleanora as a quiet, private person. However, Eleanora was also firm and principled. She quietly stood before an evergreen tree that was planted in the middle of the road that she lived on, preventing the Town of Bedford from uprooting it. This evergreen continues to thrive in its same location today. She also implemented a recycling regiment for the household in the early 1970s: Again, ahead of her time in thinking.
SURVIVORS: She leaves her children, Catherine E. Schurdak, John W. Schurdak, Ellen C. Schurdak and her husband Domenic P. Sbrocchi, Tamara Schurdak and her spouse Anne M. Gunning, and two grandchildren, Julian and Kai Schurdak.
SERVICES: A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 A.M. on Monday, December 2, 2019 in St. Anne’s Church, 450 Washington Avenue, Bethlehem PA  18017. Cantelmi Long Funeral Home, 500 Linden Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018 has been entrusted with arrangements. 
CONTRIBUTIONS: In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Carole King-Helbling Kirkland Music Fund (make checks payable to Kirkland Village, 1 Kirkland Village Circle, Bethlehem, PA 18017, designated for the Carole King-Helbling Music Fund) or LVHN-Hospice, 2166 South 12 Street, Allentown, PA 18103. 

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.