Arch Connors died in 1959 at the age of 73, on a trip out West to see their first great-grandchild. They were about to leave their motel in Kit Carson, Colorado, to go out for breakfast when he collapsed and died in Eva's arms. It was a terrible emotional shock as Eva had never been alone before in her whole life. Numb with grief, she waited at the motel for her brothers to fly out and drive her home. Family members were comforted by the fact that he died doing what he loved best---traveling.

After the funeral, her children wondered how she would survive as she had never driven a car or handled finances on her own. However, she had met tragedy before, and her deep-rooted faith and optimism always brought her through it.

For the next forty years Eva would become the rock that anchored her family. When scattered family members came home to Jacksonville, it was because she was there.

She was an inspiration to everyone. At the age of 70, she realized her lifelong dream of taking piano lessons. After becoming an accomplished pianist, she took up the organ. At one point, she had both a piano and an organ in her living room. She practiced until she could play every song in the Baptist hymnal. Her long, lonely nights were comforted by singing the old songs. Until the end of her life, she said, "I sing myself to sleep."

Eva visits an old time photo studio
and dresses up in clothes from long ago.

She spent a lot of time in her garden now. The house was circled with azaleas, and in front of them she had a border of colorful caladiums and Impatiens plants. People admired her flowers and she gave away many cuttings. One morning she went out to get the newspaper, and all of the caladiums were gone! Apparently someone had stolen them during the night by the light of the street light.

No one who took a tour of her yard could ever forget her rose garden. She alternated roses with gardenia bushes and the fragrance was pure magic. She also had pear trees, a fig tree, and three huge pecan trees. She harvested bushels and bushels of nuts in the fall, fighting the squirrels for them, and spent all winter shelling them. Over the years she sent countless packages of shelled pecans to friends and loved ones throughout the country, along with her famous sweet potato pie..

And she continued the trips out West that she and Arch had loved. Every year, she would jump on a Greyhound and make the rounds of all her children and grandchildren in the West who had made the mistake of moving away from Jacksonville. Eventually there were many great-grandchildren to visit, and everyone she visited found a generous check on their dining room table to cover the cost of her "keep." If the grandchild she visited had young children of her own, Eva always ironed a basketful of toddler's clothes before she left.

Her cooking legend continued to grow. At church dinners, her cakes were never put out with all the others, because the ladies who worked in the kitchen kept her cake back for their own enjoyment. Her last big holiday dinner at her home was in 1988, when, at the age of 97, she fed 33 people and two send-outs. After that her children rebelled and said she could no longer do all that work.

Her birthday parties became huge family reunions attended by hordes of friends from the neighborhood, from far-flung places, and even from Washington, D.C. (congressmen occasionally showed up). Her love of people was evident at these events----Eva's friends were lifelong and totally devoted.

Eva's 92nd birthday party.
She gets a hug from son Gerald (now deceased).