With heavy hearts but boundless love and appreciation, the family of Eileen B. Hanford announce the Dec. 3 passing of their beloved wife and mother at the age of 73.
Eileen Hanford, 73, passed away Dec. 3.
Born in 1948 to Anna and Peter Brabazon, Eileen B. Hanford was the youngest of seven children and made a point of letting everyone she met know this about her.
She attended St. Andrew Avelino School and Mary Immaculate Boarding School in Ossining, New York, where she graduated in 1966. Despite her parents’ wishes of Katherine Gibbs secretarial or nursing school, Eileen attended and received her associates degree from Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM) in 1968.
She met the love of her life, Skip Hanford, at a Kings Point Block party in 1965. They tied the knot in 1968 on the water’s edge at United States Merchant Marine Academy.
The very next day, Eileen and Skip headed west to start their life and family together. Pretty quickly the two became five with the births of Tamara Anne, Melissa Lee, and M. James.
Always a native New Yorker with her Irish roots, Eileen very quickly inherited the West Coast as part of her heritage and certainly left a part of her heart in San Francisco when she returned home to the East Coast and settled in Darien in 1981.
Her adoration of Darien was immediate and became one with the community. Eileen was passionate about her town and even more so about selling real estate in Darien. Her commitment to her business over the last 40 years and ensuring that her clients found the ever-perfect home or had the most seamless sale was always of paramount importance to Eileen.
Every day Eileen insisted on living her life to the fullest and she did live her best life. She had an answer and reason for everything and the magic to make you feel better when you were at your worst.
She touched the lives of so many and was able to connect on a deeper level than most. Eileen had a very special gift of making a difference in the lives of all whom she met. She believed with all her heart that everything happens for a reason.
When not selling houses, you could find her sneaking off into New York City, to Bergdorfs or the Mark Hotel. She was happiest at the beach on the ocean where she always felt her mother’s presence.
Above all else, her heart and soul were her family. She adored her husband, cherished her children and loved ferociously her grandsons. Our lives are forever changed.
She is survived by her husband, Maurice; daughters Tamara and Melissa, son M.James (Stephanie, nee Johnson); four grandsons: Charlie (16) and Henry Hughes (12), Hunter( 12) and Finn Hanford (10); two older brothers, Bernard Brabazon and Peter Brabazon; and two older sisters, Mary DeSousa and Elizabeth Feulner; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Her funeral took place Dec. 8, at St. Thomas More Church. Her interment was at Spring Grove Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be directed to Weill Cornell Medicine Office of External Affairs, Attn: Giulia Gabrielli 1300 York Avenue, Box 314 New York, NY 10065. Gifts in Eileen’s memory may be made by sending a check payable to Weill Cornell Medical College. In the memo of the check, please note: Dr. Holcomb research fund, in memory of “Eileen Hanford.”
— an obituary from Lawrence Funeral Home, where online condolences may be left