NORWAY – Elinor (Packard) Ryan, 81, of Oxford, died Wednesday, March 28, at Stephens Memorial Hospital, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born in Portland on June 3, 1925, to Elmer and Alma (Shepard) Packard.

She was a graduate of the Norway High School Class of 1942.

After graduating from high school, Elinor moved to Fredericksburg, Va., and attended college at Mary Washington.

She later transferred to Sergeant College in Boston, where she met her husband-to-be, Thomas H. Ryan Jr.

They later were married in Poland Springs and moved to Tacoma, Wash., where she taught at Annie Wright Seminary. They returned home in 1948.

Elinor and Tom owned and operated Tom Ryan’s shoe stores in Oxford, as well as Tom Ryan’s Trading Post in Norway for many years.

She also was a physical education teacher at the junior high school in South Paris and Webster Junior High School in Auburn.

She is survived by two children, a daughter, Gay Farnum and husband, Dennis of Oxford, and their children, Casey Farnum of Norway, Christina and Thomas Ferony of Omaha, Neb., and Toby Farnum of Sacramento, Calif.; a son, E. Douglas Ryan and fiancé, Charlene Kersey- Newcomb, and their children, Thomas W. Ryan of Albany, Peter D. Ryan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., George and Breanna of Stoneham; granddaughters, Christine Ryan of South Paris and Saara Leduc and husband, Kevin, of Norway; great-grandsons, Nicholas Allen of South Paris, Jackson and Alex Leduc of Norway; great-granddaughters, Alexandra and Evelyn Ferony of Bellevue, Neb.

She was predeceased by her husband, Thomas H. Ryan Jr., in 1980; a son, Thomas H. Ryan III in 2005; and a brother, Henry E. Packard of San Jose, Calif.