Eleanor Upchurch de Nobriga

Eleanor Upchurch de Nobriga, 94, died peacefully in Knoxville TN on February 7, after contracting the flu. A native of Atlanta, she was active as a Lutheran youth leader, serving as the Synod Youth president. After high school graduation, she worked as a telephone operator/supervisor for Westinghouse and was one of the first women accepted by Georgia Tech's night school to study architecture. Family illness interrupted her study, and in 1950 she married Frank de Nobriga, a fellow church member. After a brief residence in California, they moved to Kingsport, Tennessee in 1952 after the Korean War.

Eleanor's continued devotion to her church was expressed through service in the Women's Circle, and teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. Her church legacy includes an extensive collection of hand-made church vestments and banners, and meticulously crafted Chrismon ornaments. She was a highly accomplished quilter, regularly sewing with two weekly quilting circles and designing unique quilts for her grandchildren.

After raising five children and instilling in them a love of travel and nature, Eleanor became a docent and volunteer at the Exchange Place, Netherland Inn and Rocky Mount, historic sites in east Tennessee where she gave tours and demonstrated 18th century crafts, including quilting, candle-making, cooking, and tin-punch. Her sense of humor was central in developing Exchange Place's most popular fund-raising activity for tour groups, a staged "high-jacking" and mock wedding.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Colonel Frank Herbert de Nobriga, USMCR. She is survived by her children: Kathie de Nobriga (Alice Teeter) of Pine Lake, GA; Frank (Megan) de Nobriga of Abingdon, VA; Donna (Jim) Winningham of Cookeville, TN; Deborah (Peter) Chyka of Knoxville, TN, and Phillip (Meredith) de Nobriga of Kingsport, TN; eleven grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister Sarah Huggins of Richmond, VA.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 18, 2018 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church with Pastor Steve Counts officiating. The family will receive friends at the church following the service.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Eleanor de Nobriga will be gratefully accepted by Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 800 Broad St., Kingsport, TN 37660, or to the Exchange Place, attn Tom Lane, 4812 Orebank Rd., Kingsport, TN 37664.