Eleanor "Lynn" Inscho Medon, age 101, passed away peacefully in her sleep surrounded by some of her loving family on February 16, 2023, in Takoma Park, Md. She was predeceased by her sisters Annabel Thomae and Marjorie McFarland Coppage, and by her brother, Leland Inscho, Jr.

Lynn was also predeceased by her three husbands, Alfred Lansing, Robert Edwards, Jr., and Francis Medon, Sr. She is survived by her 3 children, Richard Edwards (Betsey), Bruce Edwards (Margaret), and Barbara Murray (Michael); and by her 8 stepchildren, Raymond Medon (Avice), Donald Medon, Mary Ann Lucia (William), Catherine Hennessey (David), Jeanne Eskridge, Paul Medon, Margaret Medon (Marian), and Francis Medon, Jr. (Donna). Lynn had 35 grandchildren; 28 great grandchildren; and 1 great-great grandchild.

Below, in Lynn's own words, is a letter she wrote to her great grandchildren in 2006 because she wanted them to truly know their "GeeGee". Here is the life story of a wonderful, loving woman, Eleanor Hazel Inscho Lansing Edwards Medon.

"I was born December 14, 1921 in Clearmont, Wyoming, and named Eleanor Hazel Inscho. My father, Leland Sandford Inscho, was born April 10, 1894 In Geneva, New York of English, Scottish and Norwegian descent. Both of his parents, Herbert Orville Inscho and Anna Sandford, were born in the United States. My mother, Doris White was born in Hobart, Indiana of English, Irish and French descent. Both of her parents, Nehemiah Bassett White and Bel Blackham, were born in the United States. I had two sisters, Annabel and Marjorie, and one brother Leland Jr. Another brother, John, died while he was still an infant.

My father was a civil engineer and worked as a surveyor on various highways and dams throughout the western U.S. during my early childhood. He loved working outdoors, but when his children began to reach school age, he made the sacrifice of taking an office job as a draftsman in Gary, Indiana so that we could go to a good school. We lived in Gary for a while, and then moved to Hobart, my mother's hometown.

While we lived in Indiana, the country was in the middle of a severe depression, which meant that many people, including my father, lost their jobs and had no money to buy food for their families. That was a very hard time! My parents planted a garden, which helped us put food on the table, and my father ran a taxi service and delivered groceries to get a little money. In spite of poverty, we children had a happy life. For family fun, we hiked and camped in a tent.

Finally, when I was 14 years old, my father found a job in West Virginia. At first, my father moved there by himself, which was very lonely for him, but a few months later I chose to join him. That job lasted for only one year. After that, we moved again to New Jersey, where my father commuted by train to whatever work he could find in New York City. Later we moved to Delaware, where he found permanent work as a draftsman.

I went to three different High Schools and ended up graduating from Boonton High School in Boonton, New Jersey. I got a full scholarship to the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College) in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where I majored in Chemistry. This turned out to be a good choice, as it trained me to work at jobs I really enjoyed, combining active creative work in the lab with the intellectual challenge of planning and reporting my experiments.

Shortly before graduation, I married Alfred Mark Lansing (born in Chicago, Illinois), who was serving in the Coast Guard during World War II. He was overseas during most of our marriage, and I lived with my parents in Wilmington, Delaware and later on in Perch Creek, near Elkton, Maryland. Our son Richard Mark Lansing was born in Wilmington, Delaware on April 16, 1944. When Alfred returned from overseas, we reunited briefly, but since he really didn't want to be bothered with a wife and young son, we separated and eventually divorced in 1947. My mother cared for Dick during the day so that I could work at the Hercules Research Center.

In 1951, I retired from my chemistry job in order to marry Robert Wilson Edwards, Jr (born in Camden, New Jersey). He adopted Dick in 1952, changing his name to Richard Lansing Edwards. We moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia and lived there for eight years, enjoying the small-town island life - wonderful fishing, boating, crabbing, swimming, listening to classical music on our hi-fi stereo, camping, helping Dick with his Little League baseball activities and his paper route, and teaching Sunday School. Two children were born while we lived in Georgia: Bruce Wilson Edwards on December 1, 1956; and Barbara Louise Edwards on March 6, 1958.

In December 1959, we got transferred to Mexico, where my husband worked as a technical advisor at a rosin and turpentine factory in Michoacán, while the children and I lived in Mexico City so that Dick could attend the American High School - where he broke his collarbone playing football! Meanwhile, since I had a maid to help care for the children and the housework, I was able to take an intensive course of Spanish. Once I was sufficiently fluent in Spanish, I took painting lessons, something I'd always wanted to do. I've always enjoyed learning languages, and learning how other people live, so this was a very enjoyable time for me.

After a year and a half in Mexico, we got transferred again, this time to British Honduras (now called Belize), as the manager of a rosin and turpentine plant that Hercules planned to build there. Since Dick was now ready for his Senior year in High School, he stayed in Pennsylvania with his grandparents (Bob's father and mother), where he graduated from Swarthmore High School, and went on to college at Lehigh University.

The rest of the family (Bruce and Barbara) lived at the plant site in British Honduras - definitely "bush country", with no paved roads, no schools, no doctors, no dentists, no TV, and no grocery stores. Luckily, we had no real medical emergencies, didn't care much for TV, could order groceries to be flown in, and I could homeschool the children at that young age (Bruce 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades, and Barbara Kindergarten and 1st grade).

We enjoyed sailing our boat and the fabulous fishing around the second largest barrier reef in the world. We also explored ancient Mayan ruins in Honduras (Copán), Guatemala (Tikal), and the Yucatan in Mexico (Chichen Itza, etc.). At home, we listened to our classical music records and visited with friends. We lived in B.H. for four years, and toward the end of that period, our marriage started to fall apart.

In 1965, the children and I returned to the United States for a visit, and to take care of a couple of medical problems. Meanwhile, Bob was transferred to Nicaragua, where again there was no school for the children. It seemed best for me to stay in the U.S. with the children and take a job at the Hercules Research Center again. Eventually, Bob and I divorced, and I continued working at Hercules for 20 years.

During this time, my main job was caring for the younger children.  (By this time, Dick had graduated from college).  Bruce and Barbara found it difficult to adjust to attending school in the U.S., having never been in a classroom before. Academically they did fine, but classroom discipline and reciting in public were tough!

My second job was working in the lab at Hercules, and my third job was going to night school at the University of Delaware to re-learn the Chemistry I had forgotten!

It was very hard for a while, but my mother came to live with us to help keep things going smoothly in the household. Things also got better for Bruce and Barbara. Bruce became very active with the local Boy Scout Troop and the Wilmington Trail Club. Meanwhile, Barbara made several close friends (my "almost daughters") and found that made a big difference.

My hobbies at this time were hiking with the Wilmington Trail Club (when I could find the time), camping with the children, doing cross-stitch pictures, and doing ballroom dancing and square dancing. The dancing got me involved with the group Parents Without Partners, where I met a handsome widower with eight children (Francis Edward Medon, born in Yonkers, New York). Bud and I married in 1976 and combined our families. Some of the children were already out on their own (like Dick), but there were still seven children that made their home with us, along with my mother and Bud's father. That was a busy few years! We owned two washers and two dryers, and they were all in use most of the time. Fortunately, everyone was adaptable and cooperative most of the time, so it all worked out well.

In 1985, after all of the children had moved out, we both retired and began traveling in our motorhome for 4-6 months of the year. Over the next several years, we visited all 50 states in the U.S. and all of the provinces in Canada, plus about half of the states in Mexico. We also traveled through much of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Central America, as well as several Caribbean islands.

I feel that I have been very fortunate all my life. I was lucky to get a good education, to be able to earn a good living doing work I enjoyed, and to be able to travel widely and to enjoy the beautiful outdoors in so many places.

I was also very lucky in my personal relationships. My parents were kind, thoughtful and caring people, and taught me good values and working habits which helped me all during my life.

My marriages were happy most of the time, even though the first two ended in divorce, which involved much unhappiness for a few years.

The most rewarding of all were my children and stepchildren. They have been all that I dreamed of, fun to work with as children, and becoming good people I'm proud of, intelligent and caring, doing a good job at their work and raising their own children.

I feel very blessed in my grandchildren and great-grandchildren - all very lovable and loving. I am proud of you all!"

In lieu of flowers, donations in Eleanor's name can be made to:

Arbor Day Foundation, 211 N. 12th Street, Lincoln, NE  68508-1497

Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850