Elinor Joyce Reardon of Eastham died on July 23, 2024 at Cape Cod Hospital. The cause was metastatic breast cancer. She was 74.
Elin was born in New Haven, Conn. on Aug. 26, 1949 to the late Basil and Frances Nickerson of Novia Scotia, Canada and New Haven.
When she was a child, her family camped at Hammonasset Beach State Park, and it was there that, as a teenager, she met the man she would eventually marry, James Reardon. The pair carried on a summer romance for years before marrying in 1971 at age 21.
Elin majored in math at Upsala College but left in her senior year. Math was always her forte. She worked as an administrator for major insurance companies in Connecticut for decades while she and Jimmy were living in Southbury, Conn.
Elin and Jimmy loved to travel; they gallivanted around Europe and explored the Caribbean. Elin hid in the shade on beaches in Florida and Mexico while Jimmy basked in the sun.
They went to New York for five-show weekends and hit the drive-in theater at home. Elin shared her love of theater with her daughter, Courtney, who was born in 1988, surprising her with a birthday trip to see her first musical, Cats, which kindled her love of performance.
Courtney’s friends found Elin to be “the cool mom,” the one who would drop them off at the amusement park with $5 in quarters or pay for two adjoining hotel rooms for sleepover parties at the Hilton: the one parent who treated them like adults.
Elin and Jimmy and Jimmy’s sister and her husband pooled their resources to buy a cottage in Eastham, where they spent their summer vacations for years. After Jimmy’s death in 2006, Elin moved into the cottage. She left her job in insurance and took a position with Stop & Shop, working at stores in Yarmouth, Provincetown, and Orleans until her death.
Elin’s co-workers remember her as a hard worker, a woman who never quit, whose strength of personality was visible in other parts of her life. No matter the game, when she played, it was to win, regardless of her opponent’s age. When she lost, the whole house resounded with the sound of slammed cabinet doors.
She loved her breakfasts — French toast was fine with black coffee — and gossiping with her daughter, but she was not a morning person, always grouchy after waking up. She was private, stubborn, and prideful, and she had no patience for holier-than-thou people.
Elin read prolifically, mostly mysteries and historical romances. When not reading, she was completing crosswords or other puzzles or dabbling in needlepoint.
Elin is survived by her daughter, Courtney, and partner Wheeler Cowperthwaite of Providence, R.I.; sister Beverly Nickerson; nieces Julia Dostal of Chicago and Sarah Thorpe of Thomaston, Conn.; nephew Jeff Dashuta of Sandwich; and sisters-in-law Margaret Dashuta of Sandwich and Kathy Reardon-Watson of Woodbury, Conn.
She was predeceased by her husband, Jimmy Reardon.
Visiting hours will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26 at Nickerson Funeral Home, 77 Eldredge Park Way, Orleans. A celebration of life will follow at 3:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Elin’s honor can be made to the Mass. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at mspca.org.
