Eileen "Neelie" Bancroft

Eileen, “Neelie” Bancroft was born in New York to Florence and Samuel Goldsmith on October 18, 1946. She moved to Florida for a short time as a child but came back to her mother’s family in Philadelphia with her brother, mom, and dad. Her greatest loss was losing her father in 1956 at the age of 10.

Shortly after high school, she worked at Penn Dental School, married, and had her “GIRLS 3”. She always took great pride in being a homemaker and stay at home mom. In addition to being a devoted mother, she spent her time using her talents and creativity, making homemade costumes for

dance recitals, macrame gifts, hand painted clothing, tie dye outfits, and the list goes on. She could sew anything and had a gift for makeup artistry and hair braiding. She could make invitations and cards better than Hallmark. She was an incredible cleaner and made sure her girls knew how to clean just as well. She always insisted on doing the dishes and never left the kitchen for her girls to clean up alone. She was a perfectionist at times and just loved to help others.

After moving to Florida, she worked as a hearing aid tech, medical assistant, and in a preschool before relocating back to New Jersey to be with her family. Her “Girls 3”, son in laws who she loved dearly and 7 grandchildren were her pride and joy. She spent most of her free time driving her grandchildren around to activities and was always present at every event to celebrate her family.

Reconnecting with John, her middle school crush, later in life was a gift. She started to enjoy living her own life again and gained stepchildren and grandchildren that she adored. Johnny and Neelie, as she called them, went out to Doo Wop dance shows, Phillies games, traveled, and spent time with family on a regular basis. Just back from a trip to Europe visiting John’s family, they had settled back in for the upcoming Eagles season, which was her favorite time of year. She couldn’t wait for Sundays with her Eagles gear on. She was happy to have found John and share the life that they had together. She was excited to see what was ahead and where life would take them next.

Dogs loved her and she loved them. She was ready to dog sit any of her grand dogs when we called. But she did not like cats at all…. Just saying. When you walked into her home, you could see what was important to her. There were pictures everywhere of the people she loved the most. Every nook and cranny had a memento or piece of love from someone in her life. She was unique and special. Anyone you ask would say she was the kindest woman they ever met. If you got a tin of her famous muffins, you knew she liked you too. She will be forever missed.

We love you more Eileen!

We love you more Neelie!

We love you more Mom!

We love you more Mom-Mom!