Thought of Eleanor this morning so I googled her name.  I have learned that she has received her Angel wings 🙏🏿.
  I worked with her at Durham Life Insurance.   During the summer months when I traveled home to Pender County NC , she would asked me to stop at a roadside produce stand and purchase her a bushel of white corn.  I also enjoyed those delicious cakes she brought to work.
She nicknamed me 
“Hobo” .  Strangely, I purchased 2 beautiful Hobo Handbags  two weeks ago.   I will carry those proudly in her honor.
Angel Eleanor, I welcome you
as my Guardian Angel. 🧚🏿‍♂️ 

Blessings to All 
Karon Brice, Ph.D

My mother , Dora Burgess Best and Eleanor worked together at Durham Life for many years and were very fond of each other.  Both Eleanor and mommy were great bakers and, to this day, the lemon pound cake that I make and take for special occasions is Eleanor Sykes Pound Cake.  

When I first started with Ernst & Young, I was assigned to the Durham Life Insurance Company audit.  During that time, I got to know Eleanor.  Other audit staff members and I would join her and some of her work colleagues for coffee each morning before work.  She loved to ask us about ourselves and offer insights into when our bosses were young staff people on the Durham Life account--all in cheerful banter and delightful, humorous conversation.   On many days, she would prepare and bring to work blueberry muffins.  They were delicious!  It was a great deal for me because she enjoyed making them almost as much as I liked to eat them.  A very generous and kind woman.   

Sadly as my career advanced, I did not stay in touch with Eleanor.  However, just the other day, for some unknown reason, I thought of her and her kindness (and those muffins).  I did a search and found her obituary.  With her warm, friendly spirit, I am sure that there are many others like me who would express similar comments...should they be aware of her passing.   

She was a wonderful person. My condolences to her family.



I am so sorry to hear of Eleanor's death.  I have so many childhood memories of Daddy, Mama and we 3 kids driving (on Christmas Eve) to stay with "Granny" (Evelyn Pittman) for a couple of days during Christmas!   All of the family would visit and gather together.  One of the favorite memories was that Eleanor and EC (and Joanna and "BB") would also drop by Granny's house.  All of "us kids" would get together, and we would also eat the delicious cakes and goodies that Eleanor would bring!!  It was a fun time with special memories.  I am really sorry for your loss.  

I met Mrs. Sykes when I was 5 years old in kindergarten. She was a friend to my family for a lifetime and we had the pleasure of eating  many of her delicious cakes.  She made them for our family Christmas dinners, birthdays and even the groom's cakes for my sons' weddings.  They were all delicious and so appreciated!!  She would always make lemon pound cake for my Aunt Sissy.  She was quite intimidating when I was a child, but as I became and adult, I realized how funny, witty and entertaining that she really was.  I am so glad that I got to know that side of her later in  life.  She was a very special lady who lived a wonderful life and has left special memories with all of the people that she spent time with.

Blessings and peace to all of the family.

Betsy Cox


OBITUARY

Eleanor Liles Sykes

January 15, 1923 – October 28, 2020

McEwen Funeral Home of Monroe

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