Eleanor Geraldine Bicknell

Eleanor Geraldine Gohde, the first born child of George John Gohde and Gaitha Lillian Sheneman, was born on May 9, 1924 in Cleveland OH. The young Gohde couple were God fearing people of German ancestry who lived a simple life supported by George’s income as a paramedical professional. When Eleanor was 5, her younger brother Howard was born just a few months before the stock market crash ushered in hard times of the great depression. Financial hard times and a search for ways to make ends meet caused the family to move to a farm near Shakleyville PA which is where Eleanor started school in the fall of 1930. Three years later the family of four returned to Cleveland but only for two years, for in 1935, the Gohdes moved to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains where George found work as an X-ray tech and Med tech at Pisgah Sanitarium and Hospital near Candler NC. Eleanor enrolled in the affiliated church school at Pisgah, entering the 7th grade. The following year, in the fall of 1936, a poor Tennessee subsistence farmer and logger’s son, John A. Bicknell arrived at the doors of the Pisgah Industrial Institute asking for admission and laying out all the money he had, a few crumpled and well worn bills. But he looked like a hard working, bright young man so he was allowed to matriculate in the 10th grade. When the sophomore high school student John, met the 8th grader Eleanor, it was love at first sight – a love that has lasted a lifetime. In fact, throughout her life and until a few days before her death, Eleanor always bragged about how John “picked me out when I was 13”. Eleanor began her high school education the next year at Pisgah Industrial Institute. The extremely conservative and strict rules may have kept them somewhat apart physically but couldn’t keep them from being high school sweethearts up until John graduated in the Spring of 1941. For dates they went to the “Soy Bean Stomp,” a march in the dining room. Playing footsie under the table during meals was a real thrill. Occasionally they rode in the old milk truck when it went to town. Having no money, they would visit the car dealers and pretend to be shopping for a car. The second world war was in full swing, and though John was drafted into the US Army, it wasn’t until December, when Pearl Harbor was bombed that the US entered the war. Just before Christmas, John shipped out to England, then transferred to Scotland as part of a medical detachment for a trucking regiment. Letters flew back and forth between the two lovers. Then in the spring of 1944 shortly after D-Day, John landed on the beaches of Normandy and helped set up and then staff a 1000 bed field hospital while Eleanor waited, worried, and continued to write while completing high school at Enterprise Academy KS. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered and a short three months later John was on his way home aboard the captured cruise liner “Hamberg” steaming out of Le Havre, France. The following month, on September 11, 1945 John and Eleanor were married in the Poplar Bluff Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poplar Bluff, MO. John’s unit was due to reactivate and ship to Japan within 30 days, and Eleanor would have followed him if allowed, but, the war ended and he was discharged instead. The relieved couple moved to Richmond IN where John returned to work at Miller’s Dairy in nearby Cambridge City, a place he had worked before going to Pisgah. At Millers, among his many tasks he delivered milk and ice cream to local schools. While John was employed at Millers, Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, Linda Lee, on October 24, 1946. When Linda was one, the family moved to Berrien Springs MI so John could attend college at Emanuel Missionary College (now known as Andrews University). John worked at the Studebaker plant in South Bend while waiting for his GI Bill money to arrive to help pay school tuition.  But then, just as now, government bureaucracy takes time and the family was running out of money. To keep from going broke, and at the request of his father-in-law, George Gohde who was now the Administrator of Fuller Memorial Sanitarium, John moved his family to South Attleboro MA to work as head groundskeeper of the sanitarium – a position he held until his retirement in April 1984. Eleanor gave birth to Larry Arthur on June 28, 1950 and was a great stay-at-home mom to her two children up until the time Larry began 1st grade. Upon reaching that milestone, she began commuting to Boston to further develop her considerable skills in hair care at a beautician school. She proved to be an able student. And for years after, numerous clients came to her home studio to take advantage of her listening ear, her caring personality and her natural talents making them look beautiful. In 1962, with just Linda and Larry, Eleanor set out on a 1000-mile trip that would change the course of family history. For two years, Linda, had attended high school at Greater Boston Academy in down-town Boston, which required an 80 mile daily round trip train commute from South Attleboro. Being distressed and uncomfortable with their first born’s friendships and long periods of idle unsupervised time on the train, John and Eleanor thought it best for Linda to go to a conservative boarding school. And what better place than Mount Pisgah Academy (the current name of the Pisgah Institute), the place where they had met and fallen in love. Eleanor continued developing her loving service skills and graduated from a Licensed Practical Nursing course in 1966. So for the next 2 decades, she worked as a nurse for the Foxboro State Hospital and continued freelance beautician work in her home studio. John’s gardening skills were renown–every year producing a super-abundant bountiful harvest of produce that Eleanor skillfully preserved and canned and fed to their numerous guests. The couple went to church every week prepared to invite strangers, visitors, and those down on their luck to their home where they were loved and fed till they could hold no more. With return visits, the couple “adopted” many into their loving family. One neighbor, Joan Howe, described Eleanor this way, “Eleanor was one of the most amazing, loving, talented, fun loving, inviting persons we have known. She was beautiful not only on the outside, but every part of her being was full of love. She “Mothered and Nurtured” so many people –we, among so many others were blessed by being part of her extended family. There was “ALWAYS” room around her table for one more guest–and they were filled by her delicious food.” Meanwhile, 1000 miles away at MPA, Lynn, as she was known at Pisgah, found the love of her life, David Steen, who she married in 1967 just before their last year in college. David always felt loved, pampered, and highly respected by his in-laws, and never could figure out why in-laws bore the brunt of so many cruel jokes. John and Eleanor retired from Fuller in 1984 and moved into their first retirement home on Cureton Place near Fletcher NC, a home that they had purchased years before. Under John’s care, the grounds became a park and his large gardens once again supplied food for the hundreds of people that were invited into the loving, generous, hospitality of Eleanor’s well kept home. She had a knack of making people feel loved and valued. Eleanor’s culinary skills and her love of serving food from John’s gardens were well known and greatly appreciated by many in the Fletcher and Hendersonville communities. While John loved to beautify and cultivate the outdoor environment, Eleanor worked indoors, never encroaching on his domain. Besides being a nurse, a beautician, a baker, and a cook with amazing hospitality skills, Eleanor was also a crafty lady who sewed, knitted, wrote letters, kept her trusty camera busy, and scrap booked with great skill and boundless energy. Shirts, jackets, dresses, Christmas stockings, sweaters, mittens, and scarves in abundance poured out of her “Santa’s workshop.” She also had considerable musical skills playing a trumpet in a trumpet trio and singing solos and singing in a church choir. She was also an avid reader spending many joy-filled hours reading, most often from her well-worn Bible and other inspirational works. Another joy was playing board games on Saturday nights with huge bowls of buttered popcorn nearby – or dominos on Thursday nights. With their health declining during the middle 90s, John and Eleanor could no longer care for their 3-story rock home on 2+ acres at Cureton Place and began to explore options for downsizing and moving into an assisted living environment. No doubt, because he was the recipient of so much love and respect from John and Eleanor, David encouraged Lynn to invite her parents to consider pooling their resources and building a place where Lynn, a nurse, could retire from other employment and assist her parents with their increasing health needs. So it was that in December of 1998 that they moved into their second retirement home in Berrien Center MI. Under Lynn’s skillful and attentive care. John’s health and quality of life improved to the point that he was able to turn the surroundings of this Berrien Center home into yet another park with a productive garden nearly until his death in August of 2008. Having lost the love of her life, Eleanor had a hard time adjusting to life without John. But with the love and support of family she continued sending out cards and letters to family and friends, worked even harder on her scrap booking. She soon left off needlework as arthritis robbed her fingers of their former dexterity. Eleanor’s brother Howard described his relationship with his sister this way, “Our fondest memories of spending time with Eleanor were when she and John lived in North Carolina and we were able to spend many Thanksgivings with them there. We had so much fun being together, sharing meals, going to church, shopping, and sight seeing. “For the last few years she has spent time with us in our home, and we had such good times together. “We will cherish our memories of her ever-present smile and the sunshine that she brought with her wherever she went, and we praise God for blessing us with her beautiful life.” Eleanor was truly a Proverbs 31 woman. “Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.” When her care requirements exceeded what Lynn and David could provide she moved to nearby Woodland Terrace, Niles, where she could get round the clock care and still be close to family. It was there, with her family around her that she passed to her rest on the morning of July 8, 2014. Eleanor is survived by her brother Howard (Betty) Gohde of Woodbury TN, her daughter Lynn (David) Steen of Berrien Center MI, her son Larry (Nancy) Bicknell of Yuma AZ, four grand children: Lisa (Kevin) van Nocker of Timberlake NC, Joel (Lacey) Steen of Fulton MD, Brian Bicknell of Yuma AZ, and Scott (Leah) Bicknell of Gilbert, AZ; five great grand sons, Justin, Trent, Tucker, Luke, and Levi; and one great, great grand daughter, Holly. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be sent to: The John and Eleanor Bicknell Endowed Scholarship Fund Office of Development, Andrews University, Berrien Springs MI 49104