Her Story: Eleanor (Syphers) Garner (1911 – 1988)

Eleanor (Syphers) Garner was born in Cornish on August 26, 1911, the daughter of Dr. LeRoi S. and Charlotte (Bolton) Syphers.   

She attended Cornish and South Portland schools and graduated from Gorham Normal School in 1931.  She received her bachelor’s degree in education in 1966 and master’s degree in library science in 1970.  Eleanor taught English and government at Porter High School and was librarian at Sacopee Valley High School for 15 years, retiring in 1981.  

Eleanor was very active in women’s club work.  She was a member of the Kezar Falls “21 Club” for 57 years, director of District 13 of the Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1949 to 1951 and president of the Maine Federation from 1956 to 1958.  At the time of her death, she was    parliamentarian of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, New England Regional Conference. 

Eleanor was a member of the United Riverside Methodist Church of Kezar Falls for 39 years, and a member of the United Methodist Women.  She was also a member of the Parsonsfield-Porter Historical Society and president of the Kezar Falls Circulating Library. 

In 1959 Eleanor S. Garner was named in the “Who’s Who of American Women”. 

In 1931 she married Allen F. Garner.  They resided in Kezar Falls and had a son, William A. Garner and daughter, Ruth Elizabeth Garner.  Eleanor died April 2, 1988 at the age of 76.