Eva deserved to be on the front page

Obituaries are not what they used to be. In days gone by, all of the newspapers in Greene County carried lengthy accounts of a person's life, and death, on the occasion of their passing.

At the time, the papers were most certainly guilty of giving far too many details but that was standard procedure years ago. Most of these accounts appeared on the front page. Now, almost all are relegated to page 2.

I read these ho-hum obituaries and frequently when I see a name I know, I think that what was told about their life in this little notice just seems inadequate. I see this all the time -- and I saw one today, the day I'm writing this Viewpoint. It was an obituary for a lady named Eva from Lyons.

I only met Eva one time, just a few months ago. Arzella Ahnert of the Lyons Senior Citizens Center introduced me to her. Eva was having a difficult time getting around so we went to visit her at her house.

Eva Hubbard was 95 years old and she passed away last Saturday. She will be remembered in Lyons as one of a group of citizens who helped get the Lyons Senior Citizens Center going and put it on solid ground.

When the Center was founded a little over 25 years ago, Eva had already worked as a clerk at the grocery store in Lyons for 20 years. And her husband, "Slick" Hubbard, had already passed away in 1977. She was basically retired. But Eva saw a need in her community, an opportunity to fill it, and got right back to work helping to plant the seeds that grew into today's Center.

Eva became the first Meal Site Director for the Nutrition Program in Lyons. Assisted by Avis Watson, the two worked in makeshift kitchens in whatever empty building they could find downtown. For their hard work, Eva and Avis were paid for two-and-one-half hours of work a day for preparing the meals in less than ideal conditions.

When Generations offered to send new chairs and tables, they didn't even have a good place to set them up, so a group of seniors set a goal to establish a center in Lyons. A suitable building was found and the current center opened its doors in 1982 on "the curve" in Lyons.

For 19 more years, Eva continued to work as the Meal Site Director, cooking and cleaning and washing dishes to see that seniors in Lyons had a nutritious meal every weekday. Even after she retired as the director, she continued to work part-time in the center's kitchen.

Eva only hung up her apron four-five years ago when she was around 90 years old.

When I met Eva, she had become one of the recipients of the homebound meal program she helped to start and run for all those years.

When I talked to Eva about her role in the Meals On Wheels program and the nutrition site dinners at the Center, she was willing to admit that those hot meals had helped a lot of people. But she was clearly uneasy accepting any credit for herself and maintained a humble attitude telling me she just did a little cooking. That was an understatement -- I think she was one hard-working lady.

Now I see her name's been on page 2. So my viewpoint this week -- Eva Hubbard was a front page person.

Anna is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at (812) 847-4487 or by e-mail at indianarose@fastmail.us