Eleanor I. Sulzmann Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Eleanor I Sulzmann June 24, 1921 - July 7, 2022 (Age: 101 years) Eleanor Sulzmann was born June 24, 1921, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Tom and Regina Thompson. She was the eldest of five children. Since her parents both worked for the railroad, Eleanor was the primary caregiver for her siblings. Early life revolved around available employment, train schedules, and train travel. The family moved frequently to small towns in South Dakota and Minnesota, into the city of Minneapolis, and then back out to the country. During the years of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, Eleanor attended many different schools, including a new one for each year of high school. After graduation, Eleanor enrolled in nursing school at St. Mary's Hospital in Minneapolis where she spent five years, afterward enlisting in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. In 1943, she served in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, caring for soldiers building the Alaska-Canadian (ALCAN) highway. She finished her service on a hospital ship that landed in the Philippines just as WWII ended. She returned to Minneapolis where she met her future husband, Jack Sulzmann, recently discharged from the Marine Corps, and married him in 1949. They had four children over the next six years and after several intervening moves, settled in Euclid, Ohio, to raise their family. Once the kids were all in school, Eleanor worked as a school nurse in several Catholic elementary schools in Euclid and later retired as a public health nurse for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Throughout her long life, Eleanor always cared for others. She was energized by babies, weddings and parties, and was the glue binding four generations of a large and loving extended family. Eleanor is survived by her four children, John Sulzmann, Janice (Peter) Manto, Paul (Pattie) Sulzmann, and Karen (Steve) Nelson, her brother Ed (Patricia) Thompson and sister Jackie Thompson, very many grandchildren and great granchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Tom and Regina Thompson, her sister, Mary Kathleen Flint, her brother, Danny Thompson, and the love of her life, John "Jack" Sulzmann. A celebration of Eleanor's life is scheduled at Saint Gabriel Catholic Church in Concord, OH, July 15: visitation with family at 9:00 a.m., mass at 9:30. Eleanor will be interred with her husband at Whitehaven Memorial Park immediately following the church service. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Hospice of the Western Reserve and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.