Staff
Sunday, June 15, 2014 7:16 am

ROCHESTER – Eleanor P. McKenna, 81, of Rochester, formerly of Rye, died Thursday, June 5, 2014, at her home surrounded by loving family.

Eleanor was born in Portsmouth to the late Frank M. Pickering, Sr. and Louise A. (Rand) Pickering and was raised in Rye. She was a 1951 graduate of Portsmouth High and married her high school sweetheart, Edward E Kimball, who died tragically in a construction accident. After Ed's death, she went to work at Exeter Hospital and trained to be an EKG technician and retired from the hospital in 1998 after more than 27 years of service. She married her husband of over 36 years, Thomas J. McKenna in 1972 and the couple lived in Exeter and Milton until his death in 2009.

Eleanor was patriotic and very proud of her country as exemplified through her 29 year membership with the Ladies Auxiliary VFW. Family was always first in her life and Eleanor was a compassionate, caring and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

She leaves: her son Edward Kimball and his wife Cindy of Dover; her daughters, Beth Kimball and Eloise Kimball, both of Rochester; her sister, Ann Kent of New Castle; her brother, Frank M. Pickering Jr. of Wilmington, DE; her grandchildren, Dave Kimball of Rochester, Sarah Shaw and her husband Derrick of Dover, and Kayla Martel and her husband Travis of Dover; her great-grandchildren, Collin and Jacob Shaw, Haleigh Kimball and Zachary Martel; her many nieces and nephews; along with her adopted daughter Donna Fischer of Nashua. She also leaves many dear friends that she considered family.

In addition to her parents and her husbands, she was predeceased by her sister Jeanette Conway.