Eleanor Hartigan Burns

Eleanor Frances Hartigan Burns passed away peacefully at home in San Mateo, California on December 14, at the age of 94. Born in Holyoke Massachusetts, Eleanor's ready laugh carried her graceful, indomitable spirit through life's moves, heartaches, challenges, and joys.
Eleanor was an accomplished pianist with a beautiful singing voice. She trained as a nurse at the prestigious Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, as did her mother before her.
Eleanor married Tom Burns in September of 1951. Together they raised a family of six children. Tom, also from Holyoke, attended the US Naval Academy. He instilled in Eleanor a passion for Navy football that only grew with time, as the Burnses eventually became a three-generation Naval Academy family. She, in turn, brought music into the home, and raised her family singing, strumming and drumming, anchored by her beloved piano. After several moves, the Burns family settled in California, and Eleanor had found her place. In her older years, she was blessed to live with her daughter Mary and her family, where Eleanor tended to the beautiful garden and kept company with their dog, Hailey.
Eleanor is survived by five of her children and their spouses; Erin (widow of "Arch" Griffin), George and Alison Burns, Mary Burns and Carey Wilson, James Burns and Renee Roux, and Braeden Burns and Jevgenia Smorgun, grandchildren Jeff Griffin, Jenna Griffin, Anna Burns, Megan Burns, Christine Wilson, Andrew Burns, Adam Wilson, Jack Burns, Katie Burns and Sima Burns, great-grandchild Marigold, and step-great-grandchildren Marion, Nancy, Annie and John. She is predeceased by her husband, Thomas Stephen Burns, and by her eldest son, Thomas Brian (late husband of Catherine). She will be inurned at the US Naval Academy Columbarium, in Annapolis, MD.