Woman's 90 years of enthusiasm, teaching and living celebrated
At 90, Eleanor Oleson Smith seems as full as the energy and enthusiasm that former colleagues say marked her teaching days.
"This is fun," she exclaimed, clapping her hands as she greeted family and friends at her 90th birthday party Saturday at the Community Center at Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles.
A table included scrapbooks and photos of family and friends, as well as pictures of beaming students from the 1960s.
"I just loved teaching," she said.
Smith now lives with her husband George in St. Charles. She was born and raised in Batavia, raised her two daughters and son there, and taught first and third grades in Batavia from 1958 to 1978.
"She had so much energy and enthusiasm," said Shirley Fox of Batavia, a former teacher who worked with Smith. "We did team teaching, and she'd get an idea in the middle of the night and come into school with it. She was very strong in science and involved in nature."
Smith's interest in nature continued into her retirement years when she volunteered at Campton Hills Park, among other activities. "Eleanor's Path," a hiking trail in St. Charles, is named after her.
She taught her own children about nature, as well as her students.
"She could find fossils everywhere," recalled her son Rick Oleson of Lexington, Ky. "We'd be taking a walk and she'd pick up something that looked like a bread roll. She'd whack it and inside was this perfect fossil."
"She'd take us out in the cold about 3 a.m. in winter to see the northern lights," said her daughter Carol Routh of Portland, Ore. Daughter Nancy Johnson of Millersville, Pa., was also in attendance.
Karl Slater of Downers Grove knows Smith from their association as members of the Baha'i faith.
"I don't know a more open-hearted, loving woman," Slater said. "And she's totally dedicated to letting others know about her faith, without being heavy-handed."
"I hope all of you have a 90th birthday party," Smith told guests as she blew out the candles on her cake.