Evelyn Weaver

87, of Bainbridge Island, passed away on February 18,2017.Evelyn was born in Willard, Ohio to Emory and Nila (Sherfey) Armentrout. Her father spent his career with the B&O Railroad, working his way up from a fireman, engineer, road foreman of engines and train master into an administrative position that brought the family to Connellsville, PA. Her mother was a school teacher.Evelyn attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, OH where she met her future husband, Ralph Weaver, on a blind date arranged by their two best friends. They were married on February 21, 1948. In 1949, they moved to Norris, TN for Ralph's work with the Tennessee Valley Authority. This is where they started their family of five children: Mark, Kathleen, Barbara, Bruce, and Sue Ellyn.Ralph and Evelyn moved to Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 1954 and raised their family there. In 1970, Evelyn began working as a teaching assistant at Maine West High School. She worked there for 15 years before retiring in 1984. Ralph retired in 1985 and they moved to Bainbridge Island. They built a successful and joyful retirement pursuing their shared passions, which included sailing, traveling the world, and community service.Evelyn's individual passion included turning her already substantial sewing skills into an art form as she learned to quilt and created many handcrafted gifts for all. Evelyn was the loving matriarch of a large family that spans four generations. She possessed a restless curious mind and passed on her passion and joy for exploring, understanding and experiencing the world, never missing an opportunity to expose her children and thus future generations to everything miraculous the world has to offer from music and art to history and theater. She was a master at teaching her children life skills that would shape their successful happy lives, possibly her greatest legacy. Additionally, she cultivated enduring, lifelong friendships wherever she went and will be fondly remembered by all.While Evelyn was preceded in death by her parents and brother Robert Armentrout, she will be greatly missed by Ralph; her five children and their spouses Charissa Corder, Dan Nelson, Kitty Weaver and David Eaton; six grandchildren: Cira Collins, Eric Nelson, Brie Koenigs, Lisa Fontaine-Rainen, Alex Weaver and Mikayla Stone and their spouses Patrick Collins, Jocelyn Nelson, Mark Koenigs, Danny Fontaine-Rainen and her six great-grandchildren: Aaron, Ezruli, Caroline, Anna, Zoe and Kaia.Remembrances may be made to the Seabold United Methodist Church.