Eleanor Eaton Tarpenning was born on November 11, 1913, in Texas City, Illinois to Littleton Benjamin and Anna May Bickel Eaton. She passed away on July 12, 2012, at Kennewick General Hospital at the age of 98. Preceding her in death were her husband, John; parents; siblings Noel, Lee, Neta and Dorothy, and numerous nieces and nephews. She graduated from Norris City High School in Norris City, Illinois in 1929 where she was captain of the girls' basketball team and active in singing and drama. After two years of higher education she earned a diploma entitling her to teach school. She married John Harley Tarpenning on November 18, 1938. They lived in Manteno, Illinois, both working at the Manteno State Hospital. Their only child, Janette Kay, was born in Kankakee. John later went to work for Dupont. In 1944 he was transferred to Richland to work on the Manhattan Project. Eleanor and Kay joined him a few months later, arriving by railroad in Pasco. They lived in Richland in a "B" house on Atkins Avenue, moved down the street to an "F" house and then to a "Ranch" house on Richmond Boulevard. Eleanor was somewhat taken back by the "sand dune" on which the "B" house was situated, lamenting that when Kay took her rocking chair outside the rockers sank into sand and she could not rock. In 1951 she began working for General Electric. Eleanor retired from her job as a financial clerk for Douglas United Nuclear in 1976. In 1955 John and Eleanor had a house built in Kennewick where she continued to live after John's death in 1989. In 2006 she moved into an apartment at Hawthorne Court's independent living section where she resided until her death. While she always said that, of course, she would rather have lived in her home, Hawthorne Court was where she should be. Eleanor made all her own decisions, such as living arrangements and surrendering her driver's license, making life very easy for her family. She was a strong, intelligent, independent woman who valued family above all things. She loved to play board games and cards with family and her "gin rummy" group. She played Wii golf and bowling, regularly beating family members. After retirement she began playing golf at the Tri-Cities Country Club where she and John were members. She loved it and regretted having to stop playing. She was a member of OES in Illinois and the last surviving member of her high school graduation class. She is survived by her daughter, Kay Foster and son-in-law, Jess, of Umatilla, OR; granddaughter Kimberly O'Fallon and grandson-in-law, Shon of Maple Valley, WA; great-granddaughters, Kelsey and Brittany; and nieces, Phyllis Hall of Sun Lakes, AZ, Corrine Renner Roy of Kennewick, Kay Taylor Art of Oro Valley, AZ, Judy Mann Bill of Kansas City, MO, and Karen France John of Herndon, VA. She is also survived by many great, great-great and great-great-great nieces and nephews and many friends, especially Peggy Williams of Richland. Services are scheduled for Thursday, July 19, 2012, 10:00 a.m., at Mueller's Tri-Cities Funeral Home, 1401 S. Union Street, Kennewick with burial at Riverview Heights Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Hospice at The Chaplaincy, 1480 Fowler, Richland, WA 99352.