Eleanor Gertrude (Zielazny) (Sobieski) Byrne of East Northport, NY, died in her
home in the early morning of Monday, February 6, 2023, after a prolonged decline in
health and mobility due to dementia.

Eleanor was born in Glen Cove, NY, on March 21, 1930, to Peter P. and Genevieve
(Gregorek) Zielazny. Born in the midst of the Great Depression, she grew up with
homemade clothes and toys, and life-models of her parents’ hard work and
ingenuity. Intelligent and curious, Eleanor discovered a love of music, singing, and
instruments in Music Appreciation classes in junior high. At Glen Cove High School,
Eleanor was a member of the glee club and a cheerleader, and graduated with
honors in 1947 from the college preparatory curriculum there. In keeping with that
time in American history, she didn’t subsequently attend college, but worked as a
bookkeeper at Mr. Britton’s hardware store in Locust Valley. Always a woman of
whimsy, she amused her coworkers by occasionally showing up to work with
mismatched shoes, or a lunchbox for a purse, or a lamp-pull dangling from
chopsticks as an ornament in her always-beautiful hair.

Eleanor married Edward (Eddie) Stanley Sobieski of Locust Valley in May 1952, and
the couple settled in a Valmont development, built on a potato field in East
Northport next to the Salvation Army near Larkfield Road. A daughter, Donna, was
born in December 1953, followed in February 1958 by a son, Robert (Bob). In
October 1959, Eddie died in an accident on the job as foreman of a LILCO team
searching for high-tension wires that had been downed by Hurricane Gracie.
Widowed with two children, Eleanor gave birth to a second daughter, Amy, in April
1960.

Eleanor set about raising her wild bunch with the support of her parents, who had
moved to East Northport to be closer to the little family. On a LILCO pension and
Eddie’s insurance, Eleanor strove to provide a full and fun family life for herself and
her kids, filled with visits to family in Brooklyn, Glen Cove and Locust Valley,
summer days at the local beaches, occasional vacations in the Poconos, and bikes,
doll houses and hula hoops at Christmas time. Most importantly, Eleanor pinched
pennies where she could to ensure that all her children could be educated at St.
Anthony of Padua School and could take piano lessons.

In 1963, Eleanor met William (Bill) Joseph Byrne, originally of Brooklyn, when he
moved into the neighborhood to take a job in the area. They married in July 1965.
Their daughter, Doreen was born in June 1966, and the family moved to a new and
larger house in a neighborhood off Second Avenue West, on the other side of
Larkfield, keeping the kids in the same school district and near their friends.
Eleanor and Bill encouraged and supported the many interests and activities of the
clan, including writing, playing piano, equestrian competition, sewing, crochet,
drawing, painting, bowling, baseball, and many other crafts and sports. Eleanor was
a voracious reader of all genres, and a dedicated patron of the local public library—
and all her children followed her example.

As the kids grew up, and one-by-one went off to college to follow their own
trajectories, Eleanor blossomed in pursuit of her own interests. She took adult
education classes in oil painting, and painted many beautiful portraits, landscapes,
and still life images that grace her home and the homes of family and friends. She
also took classes in Opera Appreciation and went to dozens of operas in New York
City with the class groups, and later with friends and family.

In the early 1980s, Eleanor, who was known as “Ellie” by then, answered a Help
Wanted sign in the window of a teddy bear shop in Cold Spring Harbor, and began a
new adventure in sales and marketing, both at the shop and at teddy bear shows all
around New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, with the shop’s proprietor,
Barbara Blair, who became Ellie’s good friend. The shop was in business till the late
‘80s. Barb and Ellie could be found any Friday morning at Tim’s Shipwreck Diner in
Northport into the mid-2010’s.

The family gratefully acknowledges the dedicated companionship and dutiful care
provided by Eleanor’s live-in aides in the past several years: Adelaide Owusu (who
was with the family when Eleanor died), Paulette Pringle, and Donna Greene. The
family is also thankful for the responsive and compassionate professionals of
Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice of Suffolk, especially Rose Anna Schmitz, RN.
Eleanor’s parents, Peter and Genevieve Zielazny; her brothers Edward and Thomas;
and her husbands, Edward Sobieski and William Byrne, predeceased Eleanor. Her
four children and their spouses and children survive her: Donna Sobieski, James
Hawkins and Gavin Hawkins; Amy Gardiner, Thomas Gardiner, and Susannah and
Evelyn Gardiner; Robert Sobieski, Patricia DelCol, and Kimberly (DelCol) Semon, and
Doreen Byrne.

In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of
America (https://alzfdn.org), the Art League of Long Island (https://artleagueli.org)
or Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center (https://www.littleshelter.org).