Age 79.

Eva was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1933, making her five when the Germans invaded. She survived the Nazis, the Soviets, refugee camps, an abusive marriage, her daughter dying at age 28, poverty, and many decades of ill health and extreme pain.

Throughout, she had a love of learning and a curiosity about everything. The books by her bedside, as she died included: Why does the world exist? : an existential detective story by Jim Holt; Prague winter : a personal story of remembrance and war, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Korbel Albright; What money can't buy : the moral limits of markets by Michael J. Sandel; George F. Kennan : an American life by John Lewis Gaddis.

Her passions were personal. She was an artist, who loved water color in particular. Although she achieved some critical success early on with her art, there was never any commercial success. Art was a love and consuming passion for her. Next to her library books was a small watercolor pad where her crippled and deformed fingers could still grasp a small set of water color tools and capture her impression of the flowers near her bed.

Her other passion was the north woods and wilderness, in particular the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. Picking and identifying wild mushrooms earned her the label "mushroom lady" for a number of years along the Gunflint Trail.

She had few close friends--although everyone was comfortable talking to her and confiding in her--and was comfortable being alone, with her art, her love of learning, and love of nature. Yet, she cared deeply and passionately for those she loved and had a compassion for the human condition that was unrivaled.

She gave in to the ravages of autoimmune disease and pain at her son's home in Mercer Island, WA. She is survived by her son, Stanislav Kasl Fritz and her brother, Stanislav Kasl.

There will be no public celebration of her life. However, anyone wishing to donate something in her name should simply pick their favorite wilderness conservation charity, or arts charity.

She will be missed and the small ripple in the sea of life will fade, but was felt.