Eleanor Louise Fitzgerald, nee Silsbee, 87 died Friday, November 18, 2011 at the Mat-su Regional Medical Center in Palmer. Eleanor was born on a cotton ranch near Wasco, California on October 4, 1924 to Elmer Lewis and Edna (Moore) Silsbee. Her early years were spent in Mountain View, California where her father working in construction and her mother did private duty nursing. The family relocated to Westwood, a lumber town in northern California when she was in 3rd grade and remained there until she entered high school at a private school in Laurelwood, Oregon. Her senior year of high school was spent at a boarding school in Caldwell, Idaho, followed by business school in Eugene, Oregon. Eleanor married Edward Francis Fitzgerald on May 25, 1946 in Vancouver, Washington and subsequently the couple lived in Portland, Oregon where both were employed. In 1954, they moved to Fairbanks, Alaska where their children were born: Michelle in January, 1955; Frances in December, 1957; and Patricia in July, 1960. The family moved to Homer, Alaska in 1964, where Mrs. Fitzgerald was hired as a secretary with the local office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Subsequently Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald divorced and Mrs. Fitzgerald transferred to the Anchorage office of Fish and Game and later to ADF&G's Juneau office. She retired from the Juneau ADF&G office in 1984. She lived in the Juneau area until 2001, when she moved to Palmer, Alaska to be near her two older daughters and their families. Her family said:" She always thought her greatest accomplishment was raising her daughters and loving them." Eleanor is survived by daughter, Michelle and son-in-law, William McCreary, Palmer, AK; daughter, Frances Zimmerman, Anchorage, AK; and daughter, Patti Fitzgerald, Juneau, AK; and her grandchildren, Amy and Charlie Cooper; Kelsey, Ryan and Michael Zimmerman; David and Jenny Jones; and Lauren Haight. Arrangements by the Cremation Society of Alaska, www.alaskacremation.com www.alaskacremation.com>