Pioneer in community gardening, former Harvard resident
Eleanor “E” M. Strong, 89, of The Arbors in Amherst, passed away peacefully at Hospice at Fisher Home Friday, July 2, 2010. She will be remembered for her friendly and generous nature, her sense of humor, and her endless curiosity about the world and its people.
She was born in Beijing, China, Oct. 6, 1920, the daughter of Lawrence M. and Eleanor W. (Machado) Mead. Her father taught English in China with the International YMCA and Yenching University. She attended the North China American School and the George School in Pennsylvania and graduated from Vassar College in 1943.
During the war she helped build airplanes at Grumman, and in 1946 she joined the Red Cross and went to Korea for a year, helping run a club for servicemen near the 38th parallel.
She married Peter Strong in 1949 and moved to Harvard, to raise a family and a large garden. In Harvard she was active in the Garden Club, serving as president for several years. In 1971 she moved to the South End of Boston where she did structural drafting for several architectural firms and bicycled all over the city.
A force of nature in the Boston gardening scene, she helped to establish parks and community gardens in weedy vacant lots and transferred their oversight to the South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust so that they could be permanently protected.
In 1976 she was very active in creating Titus Sparrow Park and helped to maintain it over the years. E was the co-coordinator of the Rutland/Washington Community “Gazebo” Garden and a daily fixture at it for decades. She received many awards for her tireless volunteer efforts, including from the Southwest Corridor Park, the Rutland/Washington Community Garden, several youth programs, the Boston YWCA, the Boston Living Center, and the Harriet Tubman House. In 2008 she was awarded “Most Valuable Gardener” by the Boston Natural Area Network. In 2001, The Massachusetts Horticultural Society named the Rutland/Washington “Gazebo” Garden the Best Community Garden in Massachusetts.
An avid recycler, E promoted the use of recycled products. She was also active in the Church of the Covenant in Boston, where she was known as “the flower lady.”
In 2008 she moved to Amherst to be closer to her two daughters, Alice and Sarah.
Survivors include Alice and Greg Newth of Montague, Sarah Strong and granddaughter Oriel Strong, both of Hadley; her brother, Lawrence Mead, of New York; sisters Margaret McCutchan and her husband, Alden, of Minnesota and Elizabeth Bolton of Connecticut; step-grandsons Elija and Hosanna Lillydahl-Schroeder; and many nieces and nephews. E’s brother Machado Mead, sisters-in-law Joan Mead and Janet Mead and brother-in-law Arthur Bolton predeceased her.
Memorial contributions can be made to the SELROSLT (P.O. Box 180923, Boston MA 02118) or the Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston, 02116. A memorial service was held at the Church of the Covenant Sunday, Aug. 8.
