Elinor Lee “Nea” (Taylor) Ferguson of Marblehead died peacefully on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers. She was 99.
She was born in Everett, the daughter of Donald K. and Edith (Chambers) Taylor, and raised there until the family moved to Marblehead at the start of her high school years. She graduated from Marblehead High School in 1943 and stayed for life. She worked in banking as an insurance agent before raising two daughters, led their Girl Scout troop at the Glover School, served as a parish aide at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, and at 75 went back to work as a lunch aide at the Glover. Her family describes a warm, easy laugh, a willingness to show the neighborhood kids up at basketball, and a sideline presence at every grandchild’s game. Her husband, James Ferguson, died before her.
She leaves her daughters, Donna Lee Small and her husband Dan Goldberg of Boston and Phyllis Tracy and her husband Peter of Conway, N.H.; her grandsons, Taylor Tracy and his wife Kate of Vero Beach, Fla., and Christopher Tracy and his wife Katie of Framingham; her great-grandchildren, Ben, Rylan, Lizzie and Connor; and her dog, Rigby. Her brother Donald Taylor Jr. and her sister Phyllis Swain died before her.
A visiting hour is Monday, September 14 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at O’Donnell Cremations, Funerals and Celebrations, 84 Washington Square, Salem, followed by a funeral service at 11:30 and burial at Waterside Cemetery, Marblehead. The family suggests donations to Care Dimensions or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Compiled from information published by O'Donnell Cremations, Funerals, Celebrations. Photograph courtesy of the family via O'Donnell Cremations, Funerals, Celebrations. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
