Eloise was affectionately known to family and friends as "Janet" or "Jan." Family was the most important thing to Jan. She was a wonderful friend, sister, sister-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, aunt, and grandmother whose door was always open to others. You could always count on Janet to host a good lime for any occasion. She was a member of Nativity Catholic Church.
Eloise was preceded in death by her husband Blair Soden (2016); brother Clarence John Smythe (Carole) and sister Linda Simpson (Victor).
Eloise is survived by daughter Joanne Smythe (John Murray), grandchildren Wren and Raven; sisters Beulah Joan Findlay, Jocelyn Bernadette Browne, Jane Beryl Wong Shing (Christian), and Sheila Neils; brothers Bertrum James Smith (Marilyn) and Curtis Gerard Glenn (Glenna); sisters-in-law Barbara and Merle; brother-in-law Clyde (Joyce), her several nieces and nephews, and many extended families: the Smythes, Coppins, Sodens, Medines, Peters, and McDonalds.
There will be a viewing on from 9:30am-10:30am, Friday, July 16, 2021 at Nativity Catholic Church, 3255 North Ronald Reagan Boulevard, Longwood, Florida 32750 followed by a Funeral Mass at 10:30am. The church will provide a live broadcasting of the service for those who cannot travel or be here in person at https://nativity.org/livestream. The link will present the service promptly at 10:30 am on Friday, right at the start of the church service.
Arrangements entrusted to Baldwin-Fairchild Oaklawn Chapel, 5000 County Road 46A, Sanford, Florida 32771. www.BaldwinFairchildOaklawn.com
Please visit this link to see the Funeral Mass, https://youtu.be/V6SaxH0px3Y
Eloise Soden, whom you would hear addressed as Janet, Jan, Grandma Jan-Jan, Mrs. Soden
every morning said her prayers, read her Psalms and Moravian Daily Texts, and even in failing health wanted to attend Mass, 7:30 with Susan or 9:00 when Joanne and Michelle were here.
Eloise always had a place in her home for beloved family and friends -how long never mattered.
As her nephew Sammy said, “Auntie Janet was one of the good ones.”
In Janet’s years on Caparo Street she was a tomboy, a ‘badjohn’, left-handed, unafraid and non-conforming when being nonconformist was not easily understood, especially in women. But she liked exactly what she liked.
Clara Smythe once told her, “Janet, Joanne didn’t give me half the trouble you gave me.”
Janet left Trinidad at 20, joining Linda and Bertrum in Montreal, where she worked as a nanny and met and married Blair.
Then, off to New York: Brooklyn, then Hempstead Long Island where Janet worked 4 PM to Midnight
Brookdale Hospital, first as nurse’s aide and later LPN, making lasting friendships, as with Delia.
She also attended Nassau Community College, sometimes at the same time as Joanne and the two would go to TGIF for lunch.
In Hempstead, 32 Johnson Place was Hotel California with all the visitors passing through. Joanne remembers summers: the house full, nieces and nephews from Canada and Trinidad, or Donald and Rita and the boys,or other regulars who stopped and stayed. Before heading off to work Janet always had a pot of food ready for her guests.
1989 brought the move to Lake Mary, and the Brookfield Loop home she would never give up. In Lake Mary, Jan worked as an LPN and continued developing dear friendships,and then she retired in 2012.
For some people retirement means forgetting all about their lifelong work, but even 9 years later Janet said to one caregiver, “Don’t forget, I am a Nurse. I know what’s going on.”
Though the tomboy never left her, Mrs. Soden loved dressing stylishly, with matching fashion earrings, and her hair and nails done every two weeks.
Janet was a Trini to de bone, Caribbean in her blood, and for the last few years she had hopes of getting to Trinidad again.
You can remember Eloise as selfless, putting others before herself, doing unto others as she would have them do unto her.
Once, with a niece facing a relationship problem, Eloise told her, “You don’t have to put up with such nonsense. You come and live with me.”
When another niece moved her family to Florida, Auntie Janet had the family stay with her until they were settled.
Remember her spending time with family, like Jocelyn and Uncle Victor who visited and cared for her during Christmas times, or siblings talking with her every day, like Bertrum, whose 8 PM time slot was consistently booked.
Remember Grandma Jan-Jan brightening up when Joanne, Wren, and Raven were around. Just hearing de chirren voices excited her on Joanne’s calls.
At the tail end of her life Janet received the same wonderful care she had shown others for so many years.
Janet’s family will be forever grateful to all those who helped ease her transition, especially Carmen and Sandra who always went above and beyond, and Jenny who stepped in at a moment’s notice.
And her neighbors, Susan and Roger, whose presence and efforts are always remembered, especially for helping her when she was down.
And of course the family members closest in proximity:Justine, Michelle, and Jane, who dropped everything to assist with care or to chauffeur to appointments and who gave up weekends to help, clean, coif, and comfort Eloise, who up until the last was planning for her next trip to Trinidad.
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