Evelyn M. Jordan

CLARKSVILLE – Evelyn Marion Jordan, 89, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at the Coös County Nursing Hospital in West Stewartstown. Born Evelyn Marion Skebo, in Norwalk, Conn., on Jan. 27, 1925,she was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Balog Skebo. A longtime resident of Clarksville, where she moved with her family in 1971 after buying the former Clarksville Schoolhouse, for the past 13 years she has been a resident at the Coös County Nursing Hospital in West Stewartstown, where she made many good friends among staff members and residents. Her family is eternally grateful for the exceptional care she received there from current and past staff members. The two most important parts of Evelyn’s life have been her family and music. She dearly loved her children, Cynthia, Charlie, and Scotia, and her only grandchild, Tom. They grew up enjoying her singing. In her early days, Evelyn was a professional vocalist, singing with many of the big bands of the day, and music never was far from her interests. Evelyn was also known for her keen wit and sense of humor. She began school at a Hungarian-language Catholic School in Norwalk, being in the first generation of her family born in this country. She graduated from Norwalk High School, studied music at NYU, and during World War II was a woman air cadet, where she learned to parachute from airplanes. From August 1943 to February 1944, she worked as a crane operator at a Connecticut plant, receiving an award of recognition from Bridgeport Brass Co. for her “patriotic service on the production front.” In the mid-1940s, she lived in California, where she began performing with such musicians as bandleader Carmen Cavellaro and Frankie Carle’s Orchestra. Returning to Connecticut, she appeared on radio and early television in the greater New York area under the stage name “Lynne Paige,” as well as enjoying popularity as a vocalist at nightclubs in southern Connecticut. She married her first husband, Raymond Paus, in 1947. After his death, she married Leonard Jordan in 1950 (who passed away in 1979). Always loving northern New England, Evelyn and her family lived in Burlington, Vt., for a number of years and eventually settled in northern New Hampshire, in Clarksville. During her years of employment in the region, she was the night switchboard operator at Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital and at The Balsams, where she took part in many of the talent shows in the ballroom. Her family always remained close to her and she is survived by her three children, Cynthia Paus Jordan of Berlin, Charles Joseph Jordan and Donna Jordan of Clarksville, Scotia Lynn Jordan of Burlington, Vt., and her beloved grandson, Thomas Joseph Jordan, of Clarksville. She is also survived by her two sisters, Geraldine Paddock and husband Dick of Bridgeport, Conn., and Joan Shamaly of Huntington, Conn. She is also survived by her many nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her parents, as well as her sisters Dorothy Collins and Betty Swiderski. There are no public calling hours. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m., on Friday, June 13, at the Perry Cemetery on West Road in Clarksville. The Rev. Craig Cheney will officiate. Donations in her memory may be made to the Coös County Nursing Hospital Activities Fund, P.O. Box 10, West Stewartstown, NH 03597; or in her name to the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts, P. O. Box 302, Colebrook, NH 03576. Condolences may be offered to the family on-line by going to www.jenkinsnewman.com. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home, Colebrook, NH.

Evelyn M. Jordan

January 27, 1925 - June 10, 2014