1912-2011
Eva Marie Kragovich Strong was born March 18th, 1912, in Lackawanna, NY (a suburb of Buffalo), to Marko and Ludwiga Zrodlo Kragovich. She was very active with her Father in the Serbian Orthodox Church. She remembered ringing the Church bells and being pulled up by the ropes because she was so light. Eva was orphaned at age 9 and lived an uncomfortable life for the next few years with step parents and her younger sister and brother.
Eva, at age 15, and her siblings moved into Buffalo to live with a previously unknown family to take care of that family’s child and house after school while caring and supporting her own siblings. She entered Hutchinson Central High School.
Eva married Roswell Stephen Strong in Buffalo on August 31st, 1935. They had a daughter, Barbara and later lost an infant son. The family lived in Eggertsville, then moved to Rochester. During the next 6 years, they lived in 3 houses – remodeling them extensively themselves. The last one was a large “family farm” in Penfield where they grew acres of hybrid corn, tomatoes, and beans; dahlias and chrysanthemums and raised beagles and chickens for resale through World War Two.
They then moved to Ebenezer for one year, then East Aurora for a year, where she was a Girl Scout Leader. In 1950 they moved to Irondequoit (a suburb of Rochester) and owned a Culligan Soft Water franchise, where Eve (as she wa known on the East Coast) did all the bookkeeping. Though not a musician herself, Eve gave Barbara music, art, and dance lessons. She was a staunch supporter of Tally Ho Music Camp, which Barb attended.
In 1954 they sold the business and moved back to East Aurora. A year later they bought the Roycroft Gift Shop, which was the former Copper Shop of Elbert Hubbard’s Roycrofters – a thriving arts and crafts colony in the early 1900s. Eva turned the Gift Shop into a beautiful “shopping experience”, where one could outfit a whole party – from a sterling silver punch bowl to the napkins and candles for the table. People would come from Buffalo for the day (a 16 mile drive) to shop there, then have lunch at the Roycroft Inn. Many small business employees received yearly Christmas gifts purchased by their bosses at the Shop. She encouraged many local artisans in their craft and sold their wares in the Shop.
Eva and Ros sold the Shop in 1969 and moved to Bellevue, WA, to be with their daughter and her family. They travelled until Ros became ill. They toured several European and Far East countries, and drove across the U.S. many times. Eva was a charter member of the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra League and belonged to the Somerset Unit of Music and Art Foundation and the Bellevue chapter of the Seattle Symphony League.
In her later years she helped at the Bellevue Senior Center and was a member of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Issaquah. Until 3 years before her death, she was an avid member of the Sit and Knit group at Overlake Medical Center, knitting and crocheting caps and afghans for cancer patients. Every week she climbed aboard the Access bus to participate in this group, even after having 5 knee replacements.
Eva lived by herself in her own home until after her 98th birthday. She then moved to Aegis of Redmond Assisted Living to finally have someone else take care of her. Despite breaking a femur this February, she was soon out of pain and able to walk a little. Congestive heart failure finally took its toll, however. She went to sleep on August 1st, 2011, a day before her husband’s birthday and never awakened. She was in no pain and under no stress.
Eva was predeceased by her husband, Roswell, an infant son, her sister Mildred Barrera, and brother Stephen Kragovich. She is survived by daughter and son-in-law Barbara and Darrell Scattergood, Bellevue, WA; and Grandchildren Wendy, Green Bay, WI; and David (Joyce), Woodinville, WA, by her Great Grandchildren Eva and Kyle Scattergood, Woodinville, WA, and by many nieces, nephews, and friends across the country.
We wish to thank her special friends Cindy Tsuji, Jeanette Smith, Rosina Opong, EJ and Mark Wellington and the staffs of Aegis of Redmond and Evergreen Hospice for their loving and compassionate care. Eva was known for her strength, thoughtfulness and love to others, her remarkably good disposition, and her sweet smile as so many have mentioned. She will be greatly missed.
There will be no formal service. Interment will be at Lakeside Memorial Park in Hamburg, NY.
Vjecnaja Pamjat (memory eternal) to the matriarch of our family