Eva Maria Brabant

Final Chapter The final chapter of Mom’s life was written unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. She had been working on her memoirs with the help of her children for the past several years and now her book will know completion. Eva Brabant was born in Braunschweig, Germany on February 14, 1928. Her death was not expected but at the age of eighty-two she’d lived a long and happy life and was at peace with God. She had suffered a heart attack in the early morning hours and on that final afternoon she’d been entertaining the doctors and nurses with stories of her German homeland. One remarked to our sister Lynne, “Where did you find this woman?” Her spirit was contagious and her strength kept everyone guessing as to her level of discomfort. “She doesn’t understand our pain rating scale, does she?” Lynne responded that she understands but won’t tell the truth. She doesn’t want anyone to worry. One of Mom’s favorite sayings was, “When you’ve survived a war and raised eight children, this is nothing.” That was the courage and good humor of Eva Maria Martha Magdelena Poppendieck Brabant, a war bride from WWII Germany. Arriving on Ellis Island in 1949, speaking no English and her soldier-husband Jack Brabant no German, the two began a twenty-five year marriage in Brooklyn, New York where their first three children were born, and later moved to Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania where the family increased to eight children. Their home on Wyoming Avenue sheltered them all until Jack’s death in 1975 at the age of fifty-three. During those years Eva helped to raise dozens of children of working parents, whose lives were graced by her unconditional love and happy-go-lucky nature. Asking very little for herself, she was a most generous and creative woman. She learned to knit as a third grade child in Germany and one of her greatest joys was to create original sweaters, hats, mittens, socks, scarves and even a wedding dress for anyone who asked. She used no patterns, would measure sleeve and back length, ask about the desired collar, and a week later a sweater would be ready. Eva’s final years were lived in her own little home on the Pritchard family farm in Maine with three of her eight children within walking distance. She surrounded herself with her doll collections and cooked and baked for the entire neighborhood. She recently added a Samoyed named Molly to her home and the two grew to be great partners. Proud of her ability to keep her own home, she finally admitted that perhaps a clothes dryer would be a reasonable compromise to her clothesline in the Maine winter. She never got to use that Christmas gift. Eva Brabant is survived by eight children: Maria Everson, husband Darryl, and grandchildren Lindsey, Emily, and Benjamin of Shawnee, Kansas; Christopher Brabant, wife Michelle, and grandchildren Cassie, Abby, and Jessica of Lawrence, Kansas; Barbara Finkelstein, husband Bryan, and grandchildren Isaac and Marta of Mishawaka, Indiana; Susan Baxter, husband Richard, and grandchildren Miranda and Daniel of Mishawaka, Indiana, Dr. Elizabeth Norris, husband Kris, and grandchildren Adam and Keith of Wheelock, Vermont, grandson Peter Brabant of Kansas City, Kansas, and granddaughter Kate, and husband Josh of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Family living nearby in Chapman, Maine include Paul Brabant, wife Lynne, and grandson Luke; Jack Brabant, wife Elizabeth, and grandson John; Martie Pritchard, husband Jim, and grandson Joshua Ambrutis, great-grandsons Connolly Ambrutis of Presque Isle and Anthony Carbone of Oak Harbor, Washington, and their mother Shannon Ambrutis, and granddaughter Mariah Patterson, husband Joe of Winthrop, Maine and great-grandchildren, Caleb Ambrutis, Cabot Lancaster, Madeline and Sarah Patterson. In Germany Eva is survived by her sister Dorthea Scharenberg and nephews Volkmar, Wolfram and their families. In the past six months Eva had insisted upon a visit from every one of her children. It had been four years since she’d hugged her youngest, Maria. When it looked like this would be financially impossible, her second oldest made it happen. On her final Thanksgiving, celebrated in Vermont, each family member in attendance composed a message telling for what they were thankful and after reading, tossed them into the fireplace. These were the words written by our mother: “I’m thankful for all the years that I have lived and all the things that have happened to me that I can tell stories about. I really love it all. I thank God for my children and that they are so good to me.” The life of Eva Brabant will be celebrated in a Mass of Christian Burial at the Nativity BVM Church in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania on Thursday, December 30 at 9:00 A.M. with internment at Sunnyside Cemetery in Tunkhannock next to her beloved husband with arrangements made by Sheldon-Kukuchka Funeral Home, 73 W Tioga St. Tunkhannock, PA. Eva knew great hunger as a child in war-torn Germany. In her honor the family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to any local food pantry, soup kitchen, homeless shelter or mailed directly to GIFT (Grace Interfaith Food Table) 24 Industrial Street, Presque Isle, Maine 04769-2536. Live every day as if it were your last. Reach out and let people know you care and that they are loved. Smile and fill every corner of the world you touch with joy and peace, as our mother did, and your reward will be immeasurable.