ELEANOR’s Obituary Eleanor Porrazzo Harpring passed away peacefully at her home in Vero Beach, Florida on May 11, 2019, surrounded by her family. She was born on St. Marks Place in New York City to Romilda and George Porrazzo, the youngest of five children in an Italian immigrant family. A rapid advancement student at Washington Irving High School, Eleanor graduated at 16.
Like many of her generation, she helped support her family by going to work at an early age. Though she had hoped to attend college and study journalism, she instead found jobs singing with bands, thus embarking on a ten-year career in show business. With the United Services Organization (USO) she performed for troops in the U.S. and in war-torn Germany and Belgium; her remembrances are documented at the Institute on WWII and the Human Experience.
After returning to the U.S. she sang and toured the country with several prominent big bands, among them the Charlie Barnet and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras and Les Brown and his Band of Renown. She originated and toured nationally in the role of Happy Hotpoint for Hotpoint Corporation industrial shows, and in the early television era she was a featured cast member of the Jerry Lester Show, a daytime variety program on ABC. In the mid-1950s, while performing at a hotel in Miami Beach, she was introduced to handsome radio announcer Jim Harpring, who always said it was love at first sight.
Within the year Eleanor retired, married Jim, moved to Miami, and started a family, to which she was deeply devoted. Guided by her sense of adventure and joie de vivre, the family travelled to many countries across the world over several decades. In 1988, following the loss of her beloved husband Jim, Eleanor relocated to Vero Beach, becoming an active member of the Holy Cross Women’s Guild and Republican Women Aware, and the much-praised president of the Christian Women’s Association.
Eleanor had “star quality”. Her generosity of spirit, cosmopolitan style, and enthusiasm for art, music, beauty, and great Italian food were all gifts to her family and friends, as was her legendary love for dogs. Eleanor will be deeply missed.
She is survived by her three children, Jayme Pekins (John), Lisa McLaughlin (Edward), and James Harpring (Sandra), as well as her grandchildren Alessandra and William Pekins, Jack and Elizabeth Harpring, and Kelsey Lester (Christopher); and nephews Robert and Richard Franco. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Humane Society, Boys Town, or the Marymount Sisters, some of her favorite charities. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:00 a.m., Friday, May 24, 2019 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach.
Interment will be in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY.
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