Eleanor Winchip Stutz Kirlin

Eleanor Winchip Stutz Kirlin, 95, of Lexington, SC and formerly of Brevard, NC, passed

away on November 6, 2025.

The daughter of George and Madeleine Stutz, Eleanor graduated from Palmerton High

School (PA). Known to her family as “Chips”, she played the violin and enjoyed

horseback riding, especially on her favorite horse, “Rockaway”. She listened to Bing

Crosby and Frank Sinatra, skied the mountains of Pennsylvania and Vermont, and

spent college summers as a camp counselor at Camp Oneika in the Pocono Mountains,

where she met a staff member from the neighboring boys’ camp, a maintenance guy

named Bill Kirlin. “Five foot two, eyes of blue” - Eleanor caught his eye, and she and Bill

were blessed with 59 years of marriage.

Eleanor graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a Bachelor of Science

degree in Chemistry. Following her graduation, she followed her beloved Bill to his Air

Force posting in Bellevue, Illinois and began working in a hospital lab there. As her

children got older, she returned to hospital work, first as a lab technician, and then as

the director of Schools for Medical Technology at both Cooper Hospital in Camden NJ

and Barnert Hospital in Paterson NJ.

In their retirement years, Eleanor and Bill moved to Brevard, NC, for mountain living

reminiscent of where they had first met. Eleanor discovered the local trails and

waterfalls. At church, she sang in the choir, rang handbells, participated in Presbyterian

Women, and coordinated a ministry for upcycled greeting cards. While living at College

Walk Retirement Community, Eleanor loved playing bocce and was instrumental in

providing the bocce courts there. She created beautiful needlework of all kinds, and the

Christmas stockings she knitted are special treasures to her grandchildren. Quite the

collector through many years and various travels, Eleanor happily surrounded herself

with her dolls, vintage plates and spoons.

Eleanor is survived by her children, George Kirlin (Sheila), David Kirlin (Nan), and

Nancy Gibbons (Rick); her grandchildren, Phillip Kirlin, Michelle Bridges (Chris), Becca

Hurd (Eric), Hanna Kirlin (Irving), Maddie Kirlin, Susanna Kearney (Josh), Catie

Gibbons (Andrew), and Geoffrey Gibbons (Paige); her 10 great-grandchildren, and her

sister, Carolyn Mitchell.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, William Henry Kirlin, and her

sister, Marjorie Turner.

A memorial service will be held at Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church in

Brevard, North Carolina, at a later date.