Eleanor loved to dance and told stories of dancing to the big bands,   Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey to name a few, at dance halls in Detroit. That is where she met Nick Bette, my dad and Alex Ellis, a buddy of Nick's. Both Alex and my dad told me the same story of the first time they saw Eleanor.  They walked into the dance hall and checked out the ladies. Nick tapped Alex on the arm and pointing to Eleanor said, "See that blonde? I'm gonna marry her."  Alex also told me he would have called dibs if he saw her first. 

Mom loved to tell the story about her encounter with Artie Shaw. She was dancing to his band and afterward, a band member told her that Mr. Shaw wanted to talk to her about hiring her as a regular dancer. Flattered and knowing what a good dancer she was, she followed the band member to a room where, sure enough, Artie Shaw was there and said he wanted to hire her to dance. She was excited! Then he said, I'll need you to take off your dress so I can get a better look at your legs. Oh my God mom, what did you do, I asked. Her reply was "I told him I should kick him in the nuts and then I ran out."  Yup, that's my mom.

Eleanor Jeanette Trembaczewska was born at 2:15 p.m. on December 27, 1920 to Kathryn and John Trembaczewski. She was delivered by a midwife in her parents residence at 47 Manhatten, Hamtramck, Michigan. According to her birth certificate, she was the fith child of Kathryn, and the 3rd of the number of children still living. Her mother was 39 years of age when she had Eleanor and her father was 40 years old. 

She had one older brother, Witold (Bill),  who was born in Poland, and 3 sisters, Ada (born in Poland), Bernice and Martha. Her Paternal Grandfather was Cass Trembaczewski and Paternal Grandmother was Mary Trumbach.

She lost her father on July 29, 1929. 

She lived in the family house on Eldrige Street in Hamtramck. She mainly spoke polish in her early years, as Hantramck was a Polish neighborhood.

She graduated from Cleveland Intermediate school in 1937.

She told stories of her mother being very tough on her and loved to tell the story of how she got back at her mother by sawing a bit off of one of the kitchen table legs so it would wobble. It drove her mother crazy, she said and Eleanor enjoyed every second of it.