22 years of letters from the heart

The Record (Hackensack N.J.) (MCT) - Eleanor Fleischman, 95, lives in a Hackensack, N.J., walk-up, her home since 1951. Resting on the bedroom pillow is a toy clown, a gift from her late husband, Ira.

Ellie watches TV game shows and Channel 13, reads poetry, goes to church and plays rummy with friends.

She is sweet, independent and unobtrusive.

And her voice carries.

Twenty-two years ago, Ellie picked up pen and paper and composed a letter to The Record newspaper, of Bergen County, N.J.

It ran.

So she wrote another. And another. And another.

The Record has published 44 letters from Eleanor Fleischman of Hackensack, N.J.

You learn a lot about someone from their letters to the editor. In Ellie's case, you know that Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King are her heroes.

Ellie, whose letters are painstakingly crafted, has weighed in on the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings (she was appalled by the senators); both Iraq wars (she was disapproving); the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal (she offered prayers for Bill Clinton and his family); and Barack Obama's presidential victory (she was ecstatic).

But mostly, she writes about the needy.

"Autumn has already arrived, and quickly on its heels will come winter's cold," she wrote in 2000. "This seems to be a good time to turn our thoughts to those who are in need of shelter, warm clothing and nutritious food."

In 2001: "Winter's cold is still very much with us. Hunger persists."

In 2004: "While it has perhaps become a cliche that hunger never takes a vacation, it is so very tragically true."

Her message is important _ especially now, at Christmas in an economically difficult time.

"Eleanor Fleischman is a little different from our regular letter writers," said Charles Saydah, letters editor for The Record since 1998.

"Most of her letters see newsprint, unlike many of the correspondents we call frequent fliers. That's because her letters convey a clear sense of deep compassion that demands an audience."

Ellie's letters are an outgrowth of her love of the English language and her faith.

"I always loved to write _ it was a modest gift, and I really should have done a little bit more with it," the former secretary said.

Ellie and Ira, a World War I veteran, were co-workers at Presto Recording in Paramus, N.J. They married in 1951. Ellie was 38 and Ira was 53. They never had children, but they had each other.

The Fleischmans traded loving and humorous essays and poems. Ellie keeps them in a scrapbook.

After Ira died, Ellie found a new outlet for her writing.

Asked what prompted her first letter to the editor, she said:

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"I always had a sort of missionary, preaching quality to me, and I was always concerned about the underprivileged. You might say my basic religion was to serve God in that particular way."

Ellie takes pride in her letters and lets friends and relatives know when one is published. Sometimes her letters are posted at her church, Central Unitarian in Paramus.

"I am not very modest about my letters to the editor," she said. "I'll say, 'Did you see my letter?'"

One person who sees Ellie's letters is Ira's niece, the novelist Anne Bernays.

"Ellie is an idealist," said Bernays, who lives in Cambridge, Mass. "She is very concerned about the world. As far as I'm concerned, her heart and her politics are on the right side _ which is the left side."

Ellie no longer mails her letters to The Record. For her 90th birthday, she received a Dell computer and an AOL account from a nephew. Now, she composes on yellow paper and e-mails the finished product. Every morning, Ellie is at the computer, checking in with relatives via Instant Messenger.

After retiring in 1976, Ellie devoted herself to volunteerism. She taught English as a Second Language, helped the developmentally disabled in a Hackensack workshop, collected food for the needy and worked in the Hackensack University Medical Center Auxiliary's Green Caboose Thrift Shop.

Midway through her 10th decade, she can't do those things anymore.

But she still leaves a trail of good, whether by writing checks to charities (Habitat for Humanity is a favorite) or reminding North Jerseyans of the disadvantaged among them.

"The other day, acting on behalf of my club, I delivered several large bags of groceries to the Community Food Action Program," she wrote 19 Christmas seasons ago.

"As I entered, a young woman was leaving, carrying a bag of foodstuffs. Without a shred of self-consciousness or embarrassment on the part of either of us, we smiled to each other as we passed. I thought: a brief scene in life's drama where but for a stroke of fate, our roles could have so easily been reversed _ she coming in and I going out.

"And while I was grateful for the role assigned to me, I keep thinking of that lovely lady with the sweet smile, and praying that some day the casting director might offer her a better part in life's continuing drama."

Eleanor Fleischman, never a rich or famous woman, is content with the part assigned to her.

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"Maybe I feel cheated not having my own children, but I am so blessed having all these beautiful nieces and nephews, and I am surrogate mom to so many of my friends. You should see the cards I get on Mother's Day! I thank God so often. He was so good to me, more than I deserve."

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