Eleanor Reed Searle

Eleanor Reed Searle
     TOPSHAM-- Eleanor Reed Searle, Topsham, passed away peacefully in her sleep with her family present, Jan. 19, 2006.
     Eleanor was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, committed volunteer, avid watercolorist, gardener and swing dancer.
     Eleanor was born May 3, 1926 in Newton, Mass., attended Newton High School, the Brearley School in New York City. She received her B.A. from Radcliffe College and her M.P.A. from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.
     She lived for many years in Weston, Mass., and spent every summer of her life in Maine, first on Morse Island off Friendship, and then in Boothbay.
     Her lifelong dedication to human rights, low-income housing, civil rights and welfare reform led her to serve on many Boards and committees in Massachusetts. These included the League of Women Voters, the Massachusetts Advocacy Center, the Massachusetts Human Service Coalition, the Episcopal City Mission, the Roxbury-Weston Programs, the United Community Planning Council, Rosie's Place and the Weston-Wayland Interfaith Action Group. She was appointed by Governor Francis Sargent to the Governor's Advisory Committee on Child Development, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare State Advisory Board.
     She authored several reports for the Massachusetts legislature on the impact of state and federal welfare programs on families.
     The Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers named her its 1974 Public Citizen of the Year.
     She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Campbell L. Searle; her daughter Catherine Searle Renault of Durham, N.C., and her husband Pete; daughter Susan Searle Sato of Buxton and her husband Takahiro Sato, daughter Sally Searle Kent of Bowdoin and her husband, Stephen Kent; and son Campbell Reed Searle of Manchester, N.H., and his wife Tammiann. Her grandchildren are Eleanor Yoko Sato and Stephen Liam Campbell Kent.
     Services will be private.
     In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Rosie's Place, www.rosiesplace.org.