Eva Peak

Eva M. Peak, 86 years young, died March 30, 2013 at St. Luke"s Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri of a brain hemorrhage. Eva was born May 3, 1926 in Mt. Airy, New Jersey to Harry Charles and Catherine (Gomerdinger) Knight. One of thirteen children, Eva grew up working on the farm during the depression in Pennsylvania. In 1947 at the age of twenty-one, Eva left home and headed to Kansas. Arriving in Block, Kansas, Eva would remain and call Kansas home for the next sixty-six years. In 1950, while walking on the park square in Paola, she met Thomas Peak. They were married on December 1, 1950 and the marriage lasted over sixty years. Eva worked at Peak Rest Home in the early to mid 1960"s, cleaning and helping the residents. She worked at Smith Coat Factory for ten years and was extremely proud of her job. After the Coat Factory closed, Eva started work at Roberta"s Tea Room obtaining the job after Cathy"s wedding dinner was held there. She continued there for many years working as cook and unofficial greeter. In 1969, Eva moved to their new home north of Paola. It would remain her home for forty-three years. Here Eva had her assorted pets, dogs and cats of all varieties and any animal that someone gave up or just showed up. Eva took special care of them and was left one animal in a person"s will because of her care. Tom and Eva took many vacations and she loved to travel. Trips along the southwest with Cathy and later trips to the Knight family reunion in Pennsylvania and trips with Tom in conjunction with GM provided lots of good times. Trips to country music shows provided her with the chance to meet her "stars." On a bus tour of Nashville, she met Johnny Cash and had dozens of autographs and signed shirts from top country legends. Her delight in having grandchildren was complete. She adored them and bragged on them and they loved her. Who could not love a grandma that hunted eggs with them at Easter, who spent hours looking for just the right Christmas gift and who always encouraged and wished them well. Great grandchildren delighted her to another degree. She worried over them all and was interested in their lives. After Tom"s retirement in 1996, they bought a travel bus and made their way to Iowa for the large country music show. Travels to South Carolina to visit Joe and Faye Peak and the trip to Spokane to visit Tom"s sister Betty along with trips to Florida with her daughter-in-law Kathy provided her with new friends and places to see. In a trip to New Orleans with Bill and Kathy she was saddened and overwhelmed by the damage to the property of residents. During the last episodes of her life Eva became a caregiver in the true sense. She took care of "old people" as she would say. She cooked, cleaned, ironed, visited, watched "Wheel of Fortune" with and befriended those most vulnerable. Visiting and laughing were her trademarks. Family and friends received a call on their birthday and heard her sing "happy birthday" to them. In the eighteen months since Tom"s death, she worked as a volunteer at Osawatomie Life Care Center. She always talked about the people, her duties and the friends that she had made. She was a simple woman. Simple in her loyalty to friends. Simple in her friendliness towards strangers. Simple in her love for family. Simple in her belief in people. She left the world a better place. Eva was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and seven siblings. She is survived by her two sons Bill Peak and his wife Kathy of Tonganoxie and Marty Peak of Paola; her daughter Cathy Bell and her husband Randy of Paola; two sisters May Sands of Newtown, Pennsylvania and Anna Alexander of Emaus, Pennsylvania; three brothers Raymond Knight of Limerick, Pennsylvania, Lewis Knight of Warrington, Pennsylvania, and Frank Knight of Pottstown, Pennsylvania; 3 grandchildren Christopher Bell and his wife Shantel of Gardner, KS, Crystal Russell and her husband Jacob of Paola, and Jeremy Peak of Spokane, Washington; 4 great grandchildren Ashlyn and Avery Bell and Owen and Eva Jean Russell; and a host of other relatives and friends. Memorial contributions are to the Life Care Center Activity Fund and can be sent in care of the funeral home.