GILFORD - Eleanor Pearson Keller of Gilford Village passed away peacefully Sunday morning, September 28, 2014 at the LRGH just two weeks shy of her 97th birthday. Peg, as she was known to her many friends, was married to Seth Keller in 1939, and they spent nearly 75 years as key members of the Gilford community.
Eleanor was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on October 17th, 1917 to Swedish immigrant parents. She entered Wellesley College on a full scholarship at age 17, graduating with degrees in English Literature and Mathematics in 1938. She married Seth Keller of Laconia, New Hampshire. Seth joined his father Otto in the family business and she raised the couple’s four children.
Eleanor was born with exceptional musical talents that provided her and those around her with great pleasure throughout her life. She was the organist at the Gilford Community Church for more than fifty years, directed the adult choir, created a junior choir, and composed several choral pieces that were performed both by the church choir and others. She was a long-time supporter of the New Hampshire Music Festival from its inception. In the nineteen fifties, she applied her composition talents and acting skills to musical productions of the Gilford Gaslight Players, an amateur theatre group that helped raise money for special projects at the Gilford Grade School. Most recently, Peg frequently entertained and shared her musical talents with the residents and staff of the St. Francis Home in Laconia, where she resided during the last year of her life.
Peg contributed to many community service groups. She was a volunteer for the Red Cross, and she was involved with the Lakes Region Hospice at its inception; she and Seth were active members for many years. She was a charter member of PEO New Hampshire Chapter G and served as that group’s secretary and pianist for many years. Peg and Seth joined nine other couples early in their marriage to form the Gilford Outing Club, which provided a family ski area and outdoor activities for families in Gilford. She was an originator of the Great Books group in Gilford, in which members regularly discussed a wide range of ideas contained in the classics of Western civilization.
Eleanor’s working career began after her graduation from college when she joined a Boston publisher as an editor of textbooks. Later, she became a lay reader, helping students at Laconia High School. More recently, she edited work by local writers, including two recently-published books by grandchildren who have pursued lives as writers. She worked with Seth occasionally during the early years of their marriage as they ran the confectionery business on Main Street, and she helped build a catering business that grew to be the largest in New Hampshire (later Contigiani’s catering). In 1966, Peg and Seth co-founded Kellerhaus in Weirs, New Hampshire, a business that combined the Keller family’s venerable ice cream and candy products with a vast selection of toys, cards, and gifts from around the world. Peg concentrated on the gift side of the business, and she and Seth travelled extensively to the Middle East and Europe to find the unusual items that gave Kellerhaus a special quality in the Lakes Region. They were joined in the operation by both family and friends who made Kellerhaus the successful institution that it remains today.
One of Peg’s greatest personal pleasures was gardening. She was a member of the Laconia Garden Club and an avid gardener. She dedicated herself to nurturing her plants and enjoying their beauty, as she did with all of the family and friends around her.
Peg was predeceased by her husband Seth, who died in 2007 at the age of 89, and by their son David, who died in 1962. They leave three children: Scott (wife Dora) of New York City, Richard (wife Kathy) of Alton Bay, and Christine Guarente of Laconia. In addition, they leave fourteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service at the Gilford Community Church on Saturday, November 1, at 11:AM.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to PEO Sisterhood Chapter G New Hampshire, C/O Stephanie Whiting, PO Box 503, Meredith, NH 03253, to the Allen-Keller Music Fund, Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH 03249 or to the New Hampshire Master Chorale, PO Box 705, Plymouth, NH 03264.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N.H. is assisting the family with the arrangements.