by Will Yurman
Eunice Tevlin laughs easily. Not a chuckle, and definitely not a giggle. Her laugh fills the space and follows nearly every story she tells.
Born in 1930, Eunice married her husband, Jim, when she was 20 and he was 21. They raised five children together. Work, and life led them from the Bronx to North Carolina and finally to Oregon in 1978.
She never went to college, going straight to work instead. But no mind she said with her laugh. “I liked making money too.”
She is quick to say life has been good to her, crediting her dad for her optimistic outlook. “He was always happy. He worked hard, but he just was always up and happy.”
Her husband died of cancer more than 25 years ago. And her five kids are long grown. “I had never been alone in my life. So a new experience. And you go with it,” she said with her laugh. She founded “Over the Hill,” a climbing club in Florence as well as volunteering for decades. She learned to be alone after a lifetime of being together. “It’s like growing a new leg. It’s reinventing yourself. It’s kind of fun.”
