Eleanor S. Williams

Visitation for Eleanor Steinbrinck Williams, 103, a lifelong resident of Palatine, will be held from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Thursday, August 4, 2022, at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Hwy., Palatine. A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, August 6, 2022, at First United Methodist Church of Palatine, 123 N. Plum Grove Road, Palatine.  The Interment will be privately at Randhill Park Cemetery, Arlington Heights, IL.

Eleanor was born in Baraboo, WI, June 19, 1919. She moved with her parents to Palatine at the age of two when her father began working at the bank. With the crash in 1929, her father lost his job, but the family remained in Palatine.

Eleanor attended Wood Street School and went on to Palatine Township High School where she was active in the performing arts and publications. She was a charter member of the school’s National Honor Society in 1936 and graduated in 1937. Eleanor attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL where she met her future husband. Her third year was completed at Maryville College in Tennessee before she finished her education at U. of Chicago in 1941. During WWII, she and Gordon Williams dated while he was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Base before he left for the South Pacific. The couple married when Gordon returned. They raised a daughter and son who both attended Palatine High School before going on to college. Eleanor worked in the high school media center for almost twenty-five years. She and Gordon traveled the world well into their 80’s. Gordon passed on October 13, 2013, and Eleanor remained in the family home until her death on Sunday, July 31, 2022.

Eleanor was active in the First United Methodist Church, at one time singing in the choir and teaching Sunday School. She was a member of Chapter EP, the P.E.O. Sisterhood for seventy-eight years. But her principle focus in life, through 103 years, was her husband and family.

Eleanor was the beloved wife of the late Gordon O. Williams for 67 years; loving mother of Michele (James) Agee and Scott (Catherine) Williams; cherished grandmother of Brianna (Josh), the late Mackenzie and Christine Williams, Meredith (Craig) Rodewald, Robert Agee, William Froelich, Meghan (Brian) Zator, Kathleen (James) Conner and Bridget Froelich; dear great-grandmother of James, Kate, Claire, Daniel, Matthew, Marissa, Molly, and Owen.

In lieu of flowers, memorials would be appreciated in memory of Eleanor, to The Chapter EP, P.E.O. Sisterhood, 524 E. Tahoe Trail, Palatine, 60074 or to Blackburn College, 700 College Avenue, Carlinville, IL 62626.