Eleanor Z. (Zayady) Hanna

Eleanor Sophia Zayady Hanna, of Boston and Provincetown, passed away on October 29, 2017, at 79 years old.  Born on April 21, 1938 in Boston, to Helen (Hamaty) and Elias Zayady,  the eldest of two daughters, Eleanor was educated at the Girl’s Latin School, and Boston University. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston University in 1971 and did post-graduate training as a Clinical and Research Fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In addition to her clinical, research, and teaching responsibilities she also taught courses in Child Development, Social Psychology and the Psychology of Women at Northeastern University. She served for many years as the Director of the West End Group practice at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1989, she moved to Washington DC, serving first as a Scientific Advisor to the Director of Biometry and Epidemiology at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and later becoming the Associate Director for Special Projects at the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health. She chaired the NIH Working Group on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome until her retirement in 2010.

Eleanor was an avid reader, artist, a lover of classical music and a marvelous chef.  She had a great love for the ocean and enjoyed many summers on Deer Isle, ME. She lived the last four years of her life by the sea in Provincetown, MA.  Eleanor will be remembered for her smile, which lit up her face and a room.

Eleanor was the wife of the late Michael E. Hanna, Jr., mother of Gabrielle “Gabby” Hanna and her wife Marcy Feller of Provincetown, and Gregory Hanna and his wife Lynne Steinman of Hudson, sister of Roberta Carras and her husband Rev. Peter Carras of Toronto. Eleanor is also survived by several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Eleanor loved this poem, and would like you to remember her as you enjoy it:

Sea Fever
BY JOHN MASEFIELD
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; 
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

Eleanor's Funeral Service will be held Friday, November 3, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 55 Emmonsdale Road, West Roxbury, MA.  Visiting hours in the church will be on Thursday, November 2nd from  5 to 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are invited to attend.  In lieu of flowers, contributions in Eleanor's memory may be made to the Church.  Eleanor will be laid to rest at the Gardens Cemetery in West Roxbury.

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