ELEANOR “LEE” BURT
Laconia---Eleanor “Lee” Burt, known to her friends and family as Lee, died in New Hartford, NY on December 15, 2012.
Lee was passionate about books, music, friendship, and, most of all, her family. Born Eleanor Sheldon Carr in Lowell, MA, on August 31, 1927, Lee developed her beautiful soprano voice as a student at Northfield School for Girls, and continued singing throughout her life. She met her husband, Richard Henry Burt, while a student at the University of Massachusetts, and they married during the summer between their junior and senior years.
After graduation, the couple moved to Elizabethtown, NY, but soon settled in Gilford, NH, where Lee lived for the next 56 years. There she made lifelong friends and raised three children. She was an active member of the Gilford Community Church and sang in the choir for decades. She loved the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire and the coast of Maine, where she and her family spent summer vacations, often tenting on uninhabited islands.
Interested in history, Lee loved books, particularly children’s literature. After her children left home, she translated that interest into an antiquarian bookselling business called the Barn Loft Bookshop. She was active in the New Hampshire Antiquarian Booksellers Association and became known nationally as an expert in collectible children’s books as well as books about New England.
Her husband Dick was the love of her life, and they were inseparable for 48 years. Lee cared for him through several years of illness until his death 15 years ago. Still vitally interested in current events until late in her life, she devoted herself to volunteering on the 2008 presidential campaign, along with cheering for the Red Sox. Throughout her entire life, she made time for friends old and new. A frequent visitor to her children’s homes, “Grammy Lee” avidly followed the exploits of her seven grandchildren and cheered them on in their various pursuits.
Lee is survived by her children and their spouses and children: daughter Susan Stetson and husband, Stephen, of Clinton, NY, and their children, Amy, David, and Meghan; son Richard F. Burt and wife, Barbara, of Minneapolis, MN, and their children, Jenna and her husband, Kris, and Anita; and daughter Katherine McCreary and husband, James, of Rockledge, FL, and their children, Scott and Helen. In her last three years, Lee enjoyed spending time with Jenna and Kris’s young daughter—her great-granddaughter—Madeline.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday May 11, 2013 at 11:00AM at the Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH.
Friends who wish to honor Lee’s memory are invited to make a contribution to the Music Fund of the Gilford Community Church, Potter Hill Road, Gilford, NH 03249.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N. H. is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.