Obituary of Eleanor Margaret Sommero

Eleanor Sommero died peacefully at home on October 31, 2024, surrounded by family and praying the rosary.

Eleanor Margaret Sommero (née Reilly) was born on April 9, 1928 in Manhattan to James Reilly of County Longford, who worked for the NYC Department of Sanitation and served in the US Army during WWI, and Margaret List of County Down, who was a homemaker until being widowed in 1941 when she took work as a waitress. Eleanor, the oldest of five children, grew up in the Bronx and moved to Richmond Hill, Queens when she married Thomas G. Sommero Jr. (d. 1996), a NYPD police officer and US Army veteran of WWII at a nuptial Mass at St Thomas Aquinas RC Church, Bronx on June 13, 1953. Eleanor met Tom at a NYPD dance in 1952. Their first date was at a Manhattan piano cocktail lounge on which she remembers wearing a lovely hat. They became engaged shortly thereafter at the Forest Hills Inn’s Windsor Room restaurant.

Eleanor graduated high school in 1945 from the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marmion Avenue, Bronx and worked for the Bell Telephone company until she became a mother. When her youngest child entered high school, Eleanor took a job as a part-time proctor at St. John’s University School of Law that led to full-time employment in the law school’s admissions office where she worked for 13 years and became a much-loved presence there helping so many future lawyers. She worked in the office of her co-op apartment building, Tennis View Apartments, from 2007 to 2016, where she assisted shareholders and staff alike with unfailing kindness and efficiency.

Eleanor was a voracious reader (she did work as a teenager in the NY Public Library on 5^th Avenue, traveling home to the Bronx at night by subway), an ardent walker (she never learned to drive), an enthusiastic traveler (from family summer vacations at the Lazy J Farm, Beach Lake, PA, Fieldstone Farm Resort, Richfield Springs, NY  and Linekin Bay Resort, Boothbay Harbor, ME to pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Poland, Greece, France, and Ireland), an incredible Irish soda bread and thumb print cookie baker, a keen Jeopardy fan and enjoyed doing crosswords puzzles and playing solitaire. She loved Irish music, wore scarves with great panache, had a signature color (orange) and fragrance (Innisfree or cherry blossom) and, for her, there were few things that a good cuppa tea couldn’t make better.
 

Eleanor was a devout Catholic who attended Mass daily. She was a faithful and active parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy, Forest Hills, for almost 30 years. She was a eucharistic minister visiting the homebound well into her 80’s and an active member of the consolation ministry. She also enjoyed being a member of the Golden Age Club, where she excelled in Rummikub having honed her skills playing the game with her grandchildren. In Richmond Hill, she was a parishioner of Holy Child Jesus Church for over 40 years, where she volunteered as a religious education teacher, assisted at parish bingo nights, and helped with the Girl Scouts.

Eleanor dearly loved her family and prayed the rosary for them daily.

She was the beloved wife of Thomas Gustavsen Sommero Jr (d. 1996) , the devoted mother of Grace Marie, Deacon Thomas G. III (Patricia), James Edward (d. 1978), Mary C. Meyer (Richard) and Christine M. Frankel (Richard), the much-loved grandmother of Christine (Christopher), Lauren (Stan) and Katie (Carnel) Sommero; Emily (Jake Fargo), Eric and Andrew Meyer; and Margaret (“Maggie”), James, Matthew, Brigit and Luke Frankel and the loving GG of Elizabeth, John, Josephine and Stanley. She was the dear sister of John P. Reilly, Catherine Reardon (d. 2016), Margaret Mary (d. 1933) and James J. Reilly (d.2005).

She will be missed by her many nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews, cousins, neighbors, and dear friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made payable to Our Lady of Mercy Church, in memory of Eleanor Sommero (in the memo line), 70-01 Kessel Street, Forest Hills, NY 11375