Client Cameo: Eve Crolius

Eve Crolius is our current Client Cameo and we are so pleased to share her story.  Eve has proven to be extremely positive, resilient and independent while, at the same time, serving others throughout her life.

Born an only child in a small town outside Omaha, Nebraska, she lived on an acre farm.  The town's population was only 310 people, and her father was the butcher.  After high school, she studied education at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln for a year until she was recruited to return home to be the town school teacher.  At that time, you didn't need all the certifications you do now to teach, so she jumped at the opportunity and bravely left college to teach 32 children in a one-room country school.   Not only did she teach kindergarten through eighth grade, she also did all the janitorial work and had to walk 3.5 miles each way to and from the school.  All along, she considered herself lucky because it paid well at $85 a month.

After two years of teaching at the country school, she moved to Omaha to teach kindergarten and third grade because of the shortage of teachers.  It was there that she met her future husband.  They met at a dance and connected immediately.  Eve thought she would be an "old maid" because she always told her mother that "she would not marry unless she could find a man that didn't smoke or drink and went to church every week."  Her mother replied that they didn't exist, yet she found one who met all her requirements when Webster asked her to dance!  For their first date they went to an outdoor dance where Lawence Welk was playing and they both ordered Cokes.  88 days later they were married and since Webster was in the Army, they moved to wherever he was stationed. All the meanwhile she continued to teach school when possible or work retail.  After he retired from the military and Eve was pregnant with their daughter, they moved back to Nebraska to live with her parents since there was little housing available after the war.

Later, they visited an aunt in Colorado and both fell in love with the state. They moved here in 1951 and settled in a little log cabin on an acre of land in Evergreen. They were remodeling it when her husband unexpectedly passed at the age 42. Being a young widow at 33 and a single mother of one, Eve always worked two jobs to make ends meet.  She took the civil service test and got a job at the Treasury Department where she worked for 34 years and she taught evening classes at the Barnes Business College until they closed.  After leaving both those jobs, Eve and her business partner started traveling the country and sold Native American jewelry at different fairs, festivals and gun shows for about ten years.  Eventually they opened a retail store in Golden, Colorado called the Silver Feather.

Eve also had a lot of luck winning things when she was in a Sweepstakes Club.  She would enter at least ten different sweepstakes a week and would win at least one a week.  Some of her prizes were: $3,000 cash, a trip to Hawaii, 3 different bikes, a set of luggage and countless t-shirts. She was also an avid reader, in a Book Club and would read up to 16 books a month.

After a fall shattered her leg in six different places, Eve has been in a wheelchair for six years. But, she remains positive and knows that she is blessed.  Her daughter lives close by in Aurora, she has three grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and hopes for at least one great, great grandchild in her future!  She is grateful to be a resident at her retirement home for 28 years and is still able to live independently, even without a cell phone or computer!  She contributes much of her independence to Cultivate's Carry-Out Caravan and Fix-It programs.  She says without Cultivate's help with her groceries and the repair work to her home and wheelchair, she would not be able to live on her own for as long as she has.  

Thank you, Eve, for being one of our loyal clients.  We are so happy we can support your independence!