Eleanor Adeline Gage Diamond
Diamond
Eleanor Adeline Gage Diamond, 91, of Sarasota, died March 20. She was a longtime local, having resided on Longboat Key and in Anna Maria and Bradenton.
She was born Feb. 20, 1930, in Pensacola to Naval Air Cmdr. Fred Harrison Gage and Anna Elizabeth Bell.
She was a member of the 1950-51 debutante coterie of Jacksonville and was formally presented to society at a tea dance held at the Jacksonville officers club. She designed her gown.
She graduated from Florida State University in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in fine art. She returned to the university to obtain teaching certification.
She was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority (Beta Mu chapter) and she held the office of vice president her senior year. It was there she met her lifelong, devoted friend, Fay (Miller) Hardy.
She married John Dewitt Diamond June 4, 1954, at Christ Church in Pensacola.
In earlier years, they lived in Pensacola, Jacksonville and Puerto Rico. They had six children.
She took pride in knowing that her grandmother (Merritt-Bell) donated land and a stained-glass window to Christ Church in Pensacola.
In 1958, she and her husband moved to Puerto Rico, and joined Episcopal Cathedral, where they taught Sunday school and cooked meals.
She and her husband then became founding members of a new church, St. Stephens Episcopal, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
She and her husband divorced in 1972.
In 1976, she moved her children to Sarasota, where she built a new life for her family. She helped support her family working as a portrait artist, a substitute teacher at Commonwealth High School in Puerto Rico and McIntosh Middle School in Sarasota and as an associate at the Holiday Inn gift shop on Longboat Key and at Fast Eddie’s on Anna Maria Island.
She took pride in her family heritage.
A trip to England to explore some of that history was a highlight in her later years.
She was a talented artist, known for her true-to-life portraits. She was the life of the party, an accomplished cook and hostess and enjoyed dancing. She will be remembered for her elegance and style, strength, artistic ability, witty humor, hospitality, her famous tiramisu and Christmas fudge and her beautiful blue eyes.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date in Pensacola. Memorial donations may be made to the Bishop Gray Retirement Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 233, Winter Park, FL 32790.
She is survived by daughters Lucy Merritt and husband Mark and Laura Adeline; sons Mark Dewitt, Matthew Gage and wife Tam and Paul Robinson and wife Janet; grandchildren Shannon and husband Warren, Fallon and husband Chris, Sean and wife Lauren, Christopher and wife Stephanie, Kathryn and husband Billy, Ocean and husband Jay Jose and Pauline; great-grandchildren Raylee, Dane, Ryan, Alexis, Aiden, Titus, Reed, Maddox, Phoenix and Lunna; nieces Susanne and Kathleen; nephew Rusty; daughter-in-law Nancy Thomas; lifetime friend Fay Hardy; and many other friends and relatives.