Evelyn C Brill

Evelyn Brill (1924-2022) Evelyn Brill was one of a kind, a woman who lived beyond her time. Born in 1924 to Earl and Hazel Salter shortly after the Great Depression, she embraced the values of frugality and unwavering commitment to hard work. She lived by that era's motto, "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without." Despite achieving a comfortable status, she still made her own clothes until she wasn't able to sew anymore. It's hard to say if she sewed swimsuits, sleeping bags and prom dresses out of necessity or an opportunity to create. She was born to create.She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin where she developed a love for animals and the seemingly inability to "do nothing." She attended Unity Public School and graduated as class salutatorian. She earned a bachelor's degree in art from the Milwaukie State Teachers College and an occupational therapy degree from Milwaukie-Downer College, now part of the university of Wisconsin-Milwaukie campus. She interned at Mayo General Hospital, an army hospital that closed in the 1940s and at Pilgrim State Hospital (now known as Pilgrim Psychiatric Center) on Long Island, New York.After a short honeymoon with her husband, Benjamin Brill in 1947, they packed up what little they had and drove cross country to Vancouver, Washington where she began a long career caring for WWi and WWII veterans at the old VA hospital. They loved living in the Pacific Northwest where they raised three children, a garden, and were able to fish and hunt for game. Evelyn retired after 30 years of civil service, and she and Ben spent many enjoyable years living "at the cabin" and several winters in warmer climates until Ben's death in 1990. Evelyn then lived independently for twenty years before her daughters transplanted her to Anchorage, Alaska.She enjoyed simple pleasures while living with and near family in Anchorage; reading, word searches, card games, quilting and painting. She broke her hip in 2016 while visiting a daughter in Sterling, Alaska and transitioned into assisted living in Soldotna, Alaska. The staff at Aspen Creek Senior Living (formerly Riverside Senior Living) consistently cared for her with the respect she deserved as the Grand Dame.It seems noteworthy to emphasize that she was extremely creative, a talented and prolific artist from A to Z, leaving behind a legacy of acrylic paintings, basketry, batiks, beading, block prints, calligraphy, ceramics, China paintings, cooper tooling, crochet, decoupage, embroidery, gold leaf, huck toweling, ivory carving, Japanese brush painting, knitting, lapidary, latch hook, leatherwork, lost wax casting, macramé, mosaics, needlepoint, oil painting, pine needle baskets, pottery, punch needle quilting, rug braiding, silk screening, stained glass taxidermy, tole painting, water color painting, weaving, wood burning and wood carving.She will be missed by those of us she loved and by those of us who loved her; her tow daughters and son-in-law, Carolyn and Larry Kingry of Anchorage, Alaska, Kaye Lawson of Sterling, Alaska, and son David Brill of Cougar, Washington as well as six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.She was laid to rest beside her husband of 43 years in the Garden of Apostles at Evergreen Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington.

Evelyn C Brill

February 10, 1924 - December 10, 2022