Elinor S. Cerone

Elinor Cerone, nee Starski, aged 94 of Deer Park, Long Island, New York, passed away on May 23, 2024 after a period of declining health brought on by renal failure.

Elinor was born on December 20,^th 1929 to parents Ludwig and Johanna Starski in Brooklyn, New York. After Elinor graduated from high school at 16 in Brooklyn she pursued collegiate studies in Economics at Packard College and later pursued and nearly completed a master’s degree in education at Hofstra.

Elinor was a devoted mother to three exceptionally wonderful children. Her care, and exemplary humanity shined clearly in all three of them. She was a warm person, consistent in her kindness to her family and in the home she cultivated. 

An avid reader, Elinor was a naturally and irrepressibly curious woman. From sports to politics to the arts, she appreciated learning more of just about anything. That curiosity made her an insightful woman, and a thoughtful person.

She enjoyed trips into New York City for Broadway productions and was an amateur but proficient pianist. She was a person who made her own rules and kept her own schedule, the kind of person who was happy to stay up until the sun rose if it meant extending an interesting conversation.

That same enthusiasm went into many of the things she did, even if she didn’t like to show it. While it cannot be said that she was a focused, ambitious person, she was perhaps more notable for the zeal with which she pursued the activities and interests that did move her. The elaborate meals she made for holidays, the talent for baking that she inherited from her mother (pancakes excepted), her propensity for playing tennis in the dining room against the front door, her love of staying up on current events (which persisted even beyond consistent lucidity in her final year), and the genuinely bizarre quirkiness of her Christmas presents all spoke to a beautifully singular soul.

She may not always have been easy to speak to (in both a figurative and literal sense), but she was always a worthwhile person to spend time with. 

In some ways, her life may have appeared to have been characterized by loss, but in the constant passion she had for reading and understanding the world around her, it is clear that there was unmistakable joy and liveliness in her spirit.

She is predeceased by her mother and father, Ludwig and Johanna Starski, her husband Raymond Cerone, and in a tragedy that is more than I am capable of conveying in written language all three of her children, Daniel, Johanna, and Jimmy Cerone.

She is survived by her daughter in-law Catherine Cerone, her three grandchildren Chistopher, Matthew, and Brian Cerone, and her grandnieces Carly Stancliffe and Jeannie Todd.

Visitation will be held at St. Maximillian Kolbe Parish in West Chester at 10 am May 29, and a funeral service directly after also at St. Max at 11 am.