HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Elaine Herron Hadley, 89, a former Sedgwick resident who was known to her friends and family for her compassionate concerns, community activities and support of progressive causes, died Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in Hilton Head, S.C., where she had lived since 2002.
A wonderful and empathetic spirit, she had lived in the Cleveland area for many years, mainly in Hudson, Ohio, where she served on the board of Hudson Library and Historical Society, League of Women Voters and Hudson PTA. Known to her friends as “Lonny,” she was active in First Congregational Church, Hudson, Ohio. Her husband, Albert P. Hadley, a former Cleveland attorney, predeceased her in 2004. She and her husband, an avid sailor, sailed their boat from Lake Erie via the Erie Canal and the Hudson River to the coast of Maine, where they settled in Sedgwick in 1982. She was a devoted birder and a member of Maine Audubon Society, Downeast Chapter. A native of Rye, N.Y., she attended Rye High School. In 1941 she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Middlebury College, where she met her husband, also a Middlebury College graduate. She worked as a writer and an editor after graduating.
She is survived by her two sons, Bruce H. Hadley of Sarasota, Fla., and John C. Hadley of Pittsfield; and a grandson and a granddaughter.
She will be remembered and honored by members of her family at a May 20 gathering in Hilton Head, S.C., which would have been her 90th birthday.