Eve Oldendorph

Eve Oldedorph - tireless gardener, lover of all animals great and small, avid eater of chocolate and admirer of beauty wherever she found it–passed away from late-stage congestive heart failure on December 30th at Craighead Nursing Center in Jonesboro Arkansas. She was 103 years old.

She was born Eva Mae Krasnoslesky in 1920 in Ashfield, Massachusetts to Stephen Krasnoselsky and Mary Szwed, Ruthenian immigrants from the Carpatho-Rus region of Eastern Europe.  The youngest of 4 children, she spent many hours connecting with the animal residents and immersed in the gorgeous hills and forests of her family’s farm.  She attended the Beldingville School and went on to graduate from Sanderson Academy in 1938. An avid reader, she fondly remembered hiding behind the schoolhouse piano to read and to escape from the subjects she disliked. She went on to attend the Massachusetts State College (UMASS Amherst) where she earned a degree in Languages and Literature in 1942.  She Married Walter Oldendorph in 1943 and they began their life together in Springfield, MA with their beloved boxer, Fritz.  In 1947 their daughter Lynn was born.

In the late 1950’s they moved their family to Bennington, Vermont where Eve began a long career as a lab assistant at Union Carbide’s battery division.  She loved her little cottage-like house in Bennington.  She spent many hours working in her garden and enjoying the company of many cats over the years, including Charlotte, Tiger, Jonathan, Peaches, and Gizmo, as well as countless others who visited for snacks, love, and a warm bed whenever it was needed.  Each spring she would walk the woods near her home, counting the trillium flowers and occasionally bringing back large, beautiful stones to add to her garden. In 2016, at age 96, after 22 years of living alone, she moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas to live with her granddaughter and her family.

Eve explained after a fall in her early 90s that the key to never injuring yourself when you fall is to go limp -  a skill she learned through jumping out of the three-story hayloft at “The Farm” as a child.  This passive resistance to trauma, as well as never saying no to chocolate, may be the secret to her long life.  In her 103 years on this earth, she keenly observed the world as it moved and changed around her.  Though often fading into the background, she was quick-witted and sharply insightful. She loved countless animals, fiercely at times, and sometimes more than their human counterparts. She had a definitive eye for beauty and she found great joy in art making, though she rarely displayed these artistic skills to others.  Like the cats she loved, she engaged with the world on her terms, often observing and basking in the presence of those around her.

She is preceded in death by her parents: Stephen and Mary Krasnoselsky; siblings: Anne Krasnoselsky, John Krasnoselsky, and Ola (Krasnoselsky) Ferla; Husband: Walter (Wally) Oldendorph; and daughter: Lynn (Oldendorph) Collins.

She is survived by her Granddaughters: Lisa Collins (Alex Downs) of Istanbul, Turkey and Rebecca (Collins) Mixon (John Mixon) of Jonesboro Arkansas; 4 great-grandchildren: Evelyn Mixon, Linden Mixon, Elijah Collins-Downs and Milo Collins-Downs; Son-in-law: Bob Collins of Kennebunkport, Maine; and her beloved lug of an orange tabby cat, Sambo.