Elaine Florence Cavanaugh Reynolds Scobell Elaine Florence Cavanaugh Reynolds Scobell of Pittsford left us after 89 years of a life lived with bravery, intelligence, passion, warmth, wit and style. She made her earthly debut in St. Louis, Mo., on Feb. 19, 1923, the younger child of James and Florence Cavanaugh and sister of Joseph Cavanaugh. Growing up in the roaring '20s and then amid the throes of the Great Depression only strengthened the smart and spunky girl who became a star scholar at Maplewood High School. Her yearbook deemed her "The beautiful blue-eyed blonde with plenty of oomph!" At a swinging Dorsey Brothers Band dance in St. Louis, she met the future father of her five daughters, the brilliant and handsome Jack Kenward Reynolds. They wed on Dec. 7, 1942, when Jack obtained a three-day pass from his Army base in Fort Knox, Ky. No challenge could defeat this fine romance until Jack's passing in 1976. Her work ethic and creativity were boundless. In St. Louis stores and then as a legendary saleslady at B. Forman Co. in Pittsford Plaza, she was an invaluable guide to scores of customers. Everyone came to Elaine for advice. On July 11, 1992, she wed her "Gentleman Jim," the courtly and kind James Burt Scobell of Pittsford. They shared wonderful new adventures, invariably in color-coordinated attire, until his passing in 2007. Elaine faced all that life threw at her with energy and grit, an inspirational matriarch who nonetheless was no typical grandma, although the dozens of gorgeous, hand-crocheted afghans she crafted and the darling dresses she sewed for her daughters were a testament to those traditional skills. She was chic and she was thrifty. She loved parties and she loved painting rooms and refinishing furniture. She was such a lady and such a scamp, concocting Halloween costumes for herself each year that outshone Cher. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of interior design, filling her homes with grace as well as the humor, whimsy and music of a veritable zoo of stuffed creatures. She was up on every current event with an opinion on all of them, reading two newspapers daily and tuning into news broadcasts from morn to night. Those of us blessed to carry her spirit onward include her daughters, Patricia Bern, Pamela Reynolds, Cynthia Hart, Melinda Martin and Christine Schriber; their respective husbands, Ron Bern, William Holliday, Richard Hart, Terry Martin and Don Schriber; stepdaughters and their husbands, Deborah and Ron Maslyn and Diane and Gregg Obenauf; grandchildren, Carl Bern and wife Amy, Megan Bern and husband Werner Loots, Derrick Hart, Devlin Hart, Kathleen Gerlach Pettrone and husband Shaun Pettrone, Holly Gerlach, Jameson Schriber, Jacline Schriber and Tyler James Obenauf; great-granddaughter, Aven Bern; sister-in-law, Betty Reynolds Jacques; and many nieces and nephews. We will celebrate Elaine's exuberant life with a memorial service to begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 26, at Mountain Rise United Church of Christ, 2 Mountain Rise, Fairport. Those who would like to honor Elaine's memory are welcome to contribute to Pittsford Volunteer Ambulance Inc., c/o Fund Drive Chairperson, 40 Tobey Road, Pittsford, N.Y. 14534; or Pittsford Volunteer Fire Association Inc., Attn: Fund Drive, 8 Monroe Ave., Pittsford, N.Y. 14534.
