Eva Sonmor

Eva, our mother was never one to seek the spotlight. She was never at the front of the line, never wanted to have the attention on her. 

She quietly did whatever needed to be done for her family, her friends and her God, Jehovah.

We grew up never wondering if there was going to be clean clothes for us to wear, no small feat with four boys and one girl who spent their time outdoors as much as possible collecting snakes and frogs and building forts. We would relish the once-a-week ability to slip into our freshly made beds to the crisp feel and smell of clean sheets, washed and hung on the line.

We grew up in a household that didn’t know what Kraft dinner or store-bought bread was.

Our family adventures consisted of trips to spots where the blueberry fields were plentiful, to the Okanagan in the summer to pick cherries, peaches, apricots, apples or anything else that grew. And then everything magically appeared in sealed jars as we slept.

Our vacations were not at resorts. We spent them camping and in the outdoors.  Though, as we think about it now, for mom, it is hard to understand how an 11 km hike up a mountain into our favorite camping spot carrying everything you need to keep a family of seven fed, clothed and sheltered for a week could be described as a vacation for her.

Hospitality was our parents’ calling card. There was always room for another plate at the large table, and for those truly memorable extended family dinners, mom was in her element. Even the rough looking mountain man and his dog who appeared at our door one Sunday benefited from her hospitality and generosity.

Under her and Dad’s guidance, there were always chores that needed to be done - weeding for the acres of gardens that we had or dishes to be washed and dried in tandems of two.

She was an amazing support for Dad in training us to love and worship Jehovah. With her support, Dad was able to enjoy many privileges within the congregation.  And she was always open to expanding spiritual opportunities, from helping on Kingdom Hall builds, to moving lock stock and barrel to Montreal to assist with the construction of the Assembly Hall. Then in their seventies, it was astonishing to see the apartment covered in sticky notes as they tried to learn Bengali to assist with the local group.

To us she was tireless, always sewing or cooking or baking or canning.

Helen Keller once said, “I wish I could accomplish a great and glorious task, but perhaps just small tasks as though they were great and glorious.” As we think about it today, that was our mom.

By today’s standards, there was no task that she accomplished that could be defined as great and glorious, but she accomplished every small task that she did, as though they were great and glorious, and the collective record of that is a life well lived in the service of her family, her friends, and her God.

Proverbs 22:4 stated “The result of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches and glory and life.”  As a family, we are confident Jehovah will richly reward Mom’s humble faith and we will see her again in his promised paradise on earth.