Eleanor Beck (Watkins) Whitsett was born on December 9, 1931, to Rev. A.C. and Bess Watkins in Kansas City, Missouri. She passed from this life on March 5, 2026, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

At an early age, Eleanor showed a God-given gift for music and began taking piano lessons at the age of four. She spent hours practicing every day, developing such proficiency to where she was playing for church by the age of twelve. She also gained opportunities to play for some high-profile events in the city, one of which was to play Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Kansas City Orchestra at age 15.

At age sixteen, Eleanor enrolled at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky with a full-ride scholarship in Piano Performance. Upon graduation, she returned to Kansas City and got involved in what would become her life's work—serving the Lord and sharing her artistry with the church. It was there she met Lowell Don Whitsett—a young man from Tulsa who'd moved to town to attend dental school. She and Don were married on March 3, 1956, thus beginning a 70-year partnership.

With the Church of the Nazarene's headquarters located in Kansas City, a number of unique opportunities came Eleanor's way. She used her keyboard gifts for the worldwide radio ministry of the denomination. She played for a number of General Assemblies—the worldwide gathering of the denomination. She also did a variety of arranging and publishing projects—vocal solo arrangements with accompaniment, choral arrangements, and piano/organ duet books being the most common.

Eleanor's love for keyboard music expanded to the organ—an instrument she'd taught herself to play but on which she'd never been formally trained. The longing to serve the church by having the credentials necessary to earn credibility in the academic world compelled her to enroll at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, graduating in 1972 with a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. She was subsequently honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Southern Nazarene University in 2023.

While Eleanor was in her Master's program, Don was approached by the University of Oklahoma and asked to become a charter member of the faculty for their brand-new Dental School. The family moved to Oklahoma City in the summer of 1972, and Eleanor quickly followed her heart and got involved in her new community—playing for her local church and becoming the Adjunct Professor of Organ at Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University) where she served for 27 years. She also taught a classroom course on occasion to fill in for faculty members on sabbatical or a leave of absence.

In addition, Eleanor gave of herself to the broader music community. She was a long-time member and served for a season as the Dean of the Oklahoma City chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, the Hymn Society of America, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, serving for a few years on its Board of Directors. She continued her writing and arranging and served various congregations in the Oklahoma City area as an organist on a fill-in or interim basis, in addition to playing for countless funerals and weddings. Generous to a fault, Eleanor would often set aside the compensation she received to provide tuition assistance and anonymously underwrite the education of students in the music department at SNU she believed in.

Beyond all this, Eleanor and Don created a home that was a gift to the world rather than an escape from it. Always relaxed and hospitable, she would frequently host parties and gatherings whether it was the high school basketball team on which her son played after a Friday night game or a group of their church or college friends who gathered to go swimming in the pool in their backyard. Referred to by a number of her son's friends as "The Big E," it was not uncommon for Eleanor to invite someone to stay in their home free of charge—whether an SNU student with a summer job who needed a place to live or a professional colleague from out of town who was doing some graduate work and needed a place to headquarter. She truly embodied the gift of hospitality. That said, Eleanor's greatest joy in life was serving as Don's wife and the mother of their two boys as well as a role model and adopted mother to a number of their friends. She also produced a legacy of investing untold hours stitching needlepoint Christmas stockings by hand for fifteen of her family members.

Eleanor is survived by her husband, Don; son, John and wife Angie; son, Jeffrey; six grandchildren, Kevin, Collin, Cory, Christin, Mary Claire, and Catherine; and six great-grandchildren, Waverly, Willoughby, River, Charlie, Hadley, and Wynn.

A private graveside service is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at Forest Hills Cemetery in Kansas City, MO. A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m. at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Eleanor Whitsett Organ Endowed Scholarship at Southern Nazarene University. (See the Donations link below.)