Obituary of Eleanor Monaco
Eleanor; elegance, grace, strength. Timeless beauty from the Greek word eleos.
Eleanor Marie Monaco, “Ellie” 96, of Somers, NY, died Tuesday Jan 13, 2026, at the Paramount at Somers Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. Ellie was born Oct 4, 1929 in Mt. Vernon, NY to Ernesto and Elvira Camerino.
Eleanor grew up in a close-knit neighborhood amidst a sprawling extended family that had a commanding influence on this southern Westchester town. She was an avid reader at age four. So avid, that by age six she was denied taking any more than one book at a time from the public library, due to her age. Through the depression-era, she enjoyed many Italian festival parades with her cousins on their stoop on Gramatan Avenue. At home, her parents’ relationship made a lasting impression on her. Young Ellie fondly was mesmerized by their dancing about their living room to the Metropolitan Opera's Saturday Matinee Radio show. He loved his “Duchess” dearly, acquiescing to her wishes. She aspired to education like her father and bristled at the idea of being a traditional housewife. She was at the top of her class, taking AP curriculum with plans for college. At 16, she was a seamstress to aid the war effort. After WWII, she worked as a secretary at Metropolitan Life Insurance, Bronxville, NY. She was their fasted typist. She married Danny in 1954. They shared similar experiences being the first generation of "natural-born citizens" of their families and disappointed by thwarted college plans. They fell in love on a blind double date in 1952 at a dance club though with other dates. She wore a pinstripe wide lapelled seersucker fitted skirt suit that night. She saved that suit for over 50 years.
Danny and Ellie were great partners at swing dancing and other creative endeavors in their early years. She wrote, directed, and costumed puppet musicals with her Pelham cub scout troupe. Her “Danny with the golden hands” designed and built sets, props and larger complex puppets to support her stories. Together they started a summer program in an idyllic lake community in Somers, NY where they built a life, and raised five children.
After 20 years as homemaker, she embarked on creating a career. As the fastest most accurate typist among all candidates, she was hired as an administrative assistant for Somers’ Planning Department. She proved invaluable for her stenography skill, transcribing town board meeting notes and eventually administrating the meetings. She seized the opportunity to learn how the department functioned and what was needed to be successful. She took college classes, helping her earn sequential promotions fueled by her determination, detailed project management skill, and natural leadership. As her influence grew in town planning in the 1980s and 1990’s, she aided the town’s transformation to a commuter hub with town center and major companies’ relocations, while safeguarding its natural resources.
Upon retirement and through widowhood, she thrived in the home her husband had expanded over 25 years earlier for their family of seven. Here she devoured five novels per week and tended to her garden. When she became bedridden, she had library books delivered to her, keeping 2 librarians busy tracking her reading list, and oversaw her garden from her bedroom window, directing her gardener. Though she shrank with age, she was not short on opinions, at age-95 declaring "the hell with the past, it's a lesson on what not to do" (May 31, 2024).
She is survived by her children: Paul, Ernie (Terry), Daniel (Aye-Tee), Louis (Kelly) and Elena (Sean). She was grandmother to Ariana, Andreas, Lauren, Kathryn, Nikolas, John Henry and great grandmother to Tristan. She is also survived by her younger sister, Diane Von Bargen, Mt. Vernon, NY, and several nephews and a niece.
"My father's house has many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" John 14:2
Memorial donations can be made in her honor, by sponsoring bookplates bearing her name in Historical Romance books via somerslibrary.org or mailing checks to The Friends of the Somers Library, P.O. Box 443, Somers, NY 10589.
