Eleanore Victoria Waldron Wren was born in Hollywood, California on September 24, 1925 to Waldemar Von Waldron and Vida Anderson. She had a younger sister, Virginia.

She met Howard Clinton Wren at a Church activity in southern California.  They drove across Death Valley in a Model A to get married in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Mesa Temple, December 20, 1949.  As of Howard's passing in 2023, they had been married for 73 1/2 years.

She is survived by her children:  Nancy Porter, Barbara Tuttle (Bob), Linda Wren, Robert Wren (Rachel), 16 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

Eleanore lived in southern California from childhood through college, graduating as a nurse.  She and Howard then moved to Flagstaff and remained there for the next 70 years.  She was a dedicated wife and mother, member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and active member of the Republican Party.

In 2021, she and Howard moved to Las Vegas to live with Nancy.  It was there that she passed away peacefully on October 2, 2024.

Eleanore has been a member of the LDS Church her entire life.  She loved everything about the Church and participated in all of the worship services, youth activities, evening firesides, dances and parties.  She held several leadership and service positions in the Church throughout her lifetime.  She shared her musical skills, organizational skills, and great love of the gospel.  She served as a worker in the LDS Mesa Temple and as a missionary with Howard at NAU.  She was a woman of great faith.

Eleanore graduated from Los Angeles High School at the top of her class.  She went on to complete two years in pre-nursing at UCLA.  She attended the University of California Medical Center at San Francisco for three years, graduating as a nurse in 1949.  This was part of a military program that streamlined school attendance to graduate sooner than four years.  Students attended school year-round with no breaks.  She then worked as a home care nurse.

Eleanore met Howard at one of those earlier mentioned Church dances.  Although they had attended rival schools (USC and UCLA), they struck up a friendship which became a courtship.  Howard even taught Elly, as she was known in her college years, to drive for the first time.  As children, Eleanore and her sister had always walked or ridden the bus/streetcar.  Now she was driving a Model A and learning how to fix starting problems with a screwdriver!

Eleanore loved to swim, spend time at the beach, and ice skate.  She also enjoyed her part-time jobs, starting at the age of 13.  She worked at a gift shop and later an ice cream store for a few years.  And actually, she has made most of her clothes her entire life since the age of 13.  She had a very dedicated sense of responsibility to help her mother with housework and finances.

Mother was very patriotic, and passed that on to her children.  She worked with the local Republican Women for many years, serving as president part of that time.  She also worked on elections and voter registration.

Mom also passed on to her children the gift of music.  She was an excellent pianist and accompanist, and shared these skills throughout her school years and in the Church.  She made sure all of her children learned to play the piano and was their first teacher.

Mother's favorite subject was English.  That would account for the volumes of journals and diaries she loved to keep, as well as numerous scrapbooks.  She also spent many years working on family histories.

Mom was an especially dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, and homemaker.  She kept an immaculate home, supported her children unconditionally, made holidays wonderful, and crocheted up a storm over her lifetime!  In fact, she was good at whatever she tried – from handiwork and ceramics, to trying new recipes, to taking German classes at NAU so she could correspond with relatives in Germany.

During the later half of Dad's practice, Mom worked at his dental office to help with the books.  In these same years, she exemplified such great compassion by caring for her father, her mother, her sister, and her mother-in-law in her home.   As well, she handled a missionary farewell, graduations, care-giving after surgeries, weddings, and helping with new grandchildren.

Mom was so devoted to the gospel.  It guided her every thought and action.  She was a loving mother, and we so appreciate her amazing example of righteousness, patience, forgiveness, compassion, sincerity, honesty, and loyalty.  She was a principled woman to the core – a woman of exceptional integrity and quiet humility.

We will miss all of this and more.

Love you, until we meet again…

Please send condolences to Nancy Porter
3421 Happy Lane
Las Vegas, NV  89120

*No flowers, please.  In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org

Memorial Service will be held at the LDS Church, 625 E. Cherry, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
Saturday, October 26, 10:00 a.m.

Services are also available by Zoom at the following link: zoom.us/j/99983836099?pwd=laSMoRikIyUbrzqjlmfa1HtBpmcTJb.1

Interment at Citizens Cemetery, Veterans Section