Eva "Eve" Strain

Eva “Eve” Rosemary Strain (nee Chlopan) died peacefully at Rockyview General Hospital on Monday, December 22, 2025, at the age of 90 years after a brief illness. Eve was born on September 7, 1935 on the family farm near Ridgedale, Saskatchewan. She was predeceased by her husband Raymond, her brother and sister-in-law Carroll and Kathy Chlopan, her brother-in-law Robbie Strain, and sister-in-law Ellen Hanson. Eve’s memory will be held by her daughter Seana Strain, and son Tim Strain (Janine Violini). Eve is also survived by her sister-in-law Fran Perry, brother-in-law Jim Strain (Gail Hicks), and many nieces and nephews. Eve’s countless friends, surviving and deceased, were also family to her with honourary grandchildren, Caitlin and Ashelynn, a big part of her life.

Eve’s journey started as farmgirl in Ridgedale, who became student in Saskatoon, where university provided her with a Degree, a husband (Ray), a move to Regina, and the start of a family (Seana). This was shortly followed by a stop in Weyburn, more family (Tim), and a final ultimate stop in Calgary.

Seems like it takes a life to understand a life. The skill, compassion and professionalism of the staff at Rockyview caring for Eve at the end of her life brought into focus the vocation that she dedicated her energy to as a nurse and caregiver herself. In Eve’s career as a Registered Nurse, largely in long-term care, she was most effective by caring for the person rather than the patient. This reputation is her legacy.

Throughout her life, Eve was an endlessly curious and voracious reader. Work (and children) could drain her physically, but a book could revive her. Her perspective and practices were influenced by the worlds experienced in the innumerable books she read. In retirement, which came in 2006 at age 71, Eve put her worldly perspective into volunteerism, which extended beyond borders becoming boundlessly appreciative of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Power of Women, Girls, and Grandmothers, the Ujamaa Grandmas, and Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. Volunteering at a Ten Thousand Villages store, she became engrossed with the craftsmanship, regions, and people behind each item in the shop.

At her core, Eve was farm practical and farm strong. Work some, (work some more) save some, read, repeat. For Eve, some farm traditions were never left behind - possibly due to the influence of her father, Peter, who was a railway cook that would purchase items from the family farm in Ridgedale where he also met and courted Eve’s mother, Mary Wilk. Eve’s Calgary kitchen became a bakery once every month, with counters and tabletops transformed by oceans of loaves and endless waves of buns. Summers and early fall were marked by the inevitable cases of fruit; cherries made way for apricots and apricots for peaches, which would all jostle for space as jams on the shelves of the basement cold room (and in our bellies).

Community mattered throughout Eve’s life with foundational influences found in chlorine-infused hallways of the south Calgary family YMCA with Seana’s and Tim’s swim club. Social connections formed there were revisited often over the 50 years that followed. Eventually Eve became the last surviving member of a Tuesday coffee group born in that now-gone building.

Care, curiosity, customs, and community - just a few of the ways we will remember Eve.

Tim and Seana wish to thank Eve’s many life-long friends, loving companions, caregivers, and staff at Trinity Lodge, Staywell Manor, and Rockyview Hospital. Your kindness and devotion to Eve will not be forgotten.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders Canada/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada.