Nina Eaton, who helped establish the United Cerebral Palsy Association, dies at 96

There were no services and few options for people with disabilities in 1941, when Woodmere resident Nina Eaton’s son Leonard was diagnosed with cerebral palsy shortly after his birth. But she was determined to make sure that her son got the care he needed, and that others who had similar disorders would as well.

Eaton, who lived in Woodmere for more than 50 years, collaborated with other parents to found the Cerebral Palsy Association of New York in 1946. Three years later, the organization was renamed the United Cerebral Palsy Association. With her beguiling personality and steely perseverance, she propelled the UCP to a position of leadership in the disabilities community.

Eaton died on March 30. She was 96.

Still active in the organization until her death, she was a member of the UCP Board of Directors and the board of the Community Living Corporation, the group home in Mt. Kisco whose residents include her grandson, Eric, who has a developmental disability.
“I would marvel at her ability to move large crowds of people to tears or cheers so effortlessly,” said Eaton’s granddaughter, Meredith Gordon. “She was a celebrity, admired by so many for her gutsy attitude and tenacity.”

Gordon, who lives in California, remembers her grandmother not only as an inductee into the Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2008, but as a champion bridge player, a great cook, an avid reader and an opera lover. “To me she was everything,” Gordon said, “a mentor, a confidante, a dear and cherished friend. We shared a very close relationship, spending every summer together at the beach club in Atlantic Beach.”

Eaton boasted about Gordon’s acting on television shows to friends and complete strangers, Gordon recalled. “My promise was to come back at least six times a year to see her,” she said.