Evangeline “Eve” Theresa Doyle Oliver died of Alzheimer’s on March 20, 2009, in her Oak Harbor home. She was 83. Eve was born in Ithaca, N.Y., on Dec 6, 1925, the first of five children. Eve’s parents, Basel Fred Doyle and Florence Donovan, were Canadian Irish immigrants in the U.S. on student visas attending Cornell University. After having their first baby, they decided to stay and set up their home in Barberton, Ohio.

Upon graduation from high school, Eve trained as a nurse. She traveled to Florida, Colorado, California and Idaho during the polio epidemics, caring for stricken children. In 1949, she fell in love with Kent Barnett Power and they were married shortly thereafter. Kent enrolled in the University of Idaho Law School in Moscow on the GI Bill while Eve worked as a nurse to support the family. Kent and Eve had three children during the years while attending the University.

The family moved to Weiser, Idaho, upon Kent’s acceptance to the Idaho bar. Kent and Eve became involved in local politics when Kent was elected prosecuting attorney for Washington County. Eve established many enduring friendships there. In 1959, Kent established a private practice in Boise, Idaho, and the family moved once again.

The year 1967 brought turmoil to the nation and to Eve when she divorced Kent. She accepted a job in Oak Harbor as a civilian nurse at the old Navy hospital on the Seaplane Base. She worked there for several years, participating in the “Big Move” to Ault Field. She loved to tell about the day they had to un-hook all the patients, some critically ill, and haul them all over to the new facility. Eve ended her professional nursing work and subsequently married LCDR Preston Oliver, USN Ret., in 1972.

These were the big travel and writing years. Eve’s travel imagination, honed by years of avidly reading adventure tales of far away and exotic places, came to life. Eve wrote extensively of her adventures – she went to all the corners of the round world, usually without a set itinerary. The moment determined her next move, her next stop and the people on the way, her next adventure. Eve made scores of extended travels to Ireland by way of Thailand; to Europe, Britain, Northern Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

Eve’s love of places and people; her energetic and exciting nature; her willingness to take on all uncertainties won her many loyal friends throughout the world. Her home in Oak Harbor became a crossroads for visitors she met along the road who were invited to “stop by if they were in the neighborhood.” Many did, always to a warm welcome, shelter, food, shared laughter and joy. Eve always kept a suitcase packed beneath the bed, ready to join in on any adventure. Eve built a ladder to the stars and stayed forever young.

Preston Oliver divorced Eve in 2007. Eve was cared for in her home, always and until the end, by her loving daughter, K.C. and son-in-law William (Skip) Pohtilla. Eve passed away in her home surrounded by her family. Dying, as was her wish, in the arms of those who loved her.

Eve was preceded in death by her first husband Kent; a younger brother Fred Doyle, formerly of Reno, Nev., and younger sister, “Sister Evangeline Doyle,” of the Dominican Sisters of Akron, Ohio.

She is survived by her three children: Michael Power of Salt Lake City, Utah; K.C. Pohtilla of Oak Harbor; and L.E. Herrick of Dry Fork, W.V., and Alexandria Va.; a brother, Michael Doyle of Wadsworth, Ohio; a sister Sylvia of Ravenna, Ohio; three grandsons, Sean Pohtilla, Jeremy Power and Shea Pohtilla; three granddaughters, Kelli Pearcy, Morgan Mann and Molli Power; and five great-grandchildren.

Services were held March 24 at St. Augustine’s Church in Oak Harbor. Arrrangements made with the assistance of Whidbey Memorial Funeral and Cremation Services, Inc. Family and friends are encouraged to sign the online guest register at www.whidbeymemorial.com.