Edith Victoria Schave Sofos, 96, went to her forever home on Saturday April 25, 2020 at 2:50 PM PST at Carlmont Gardens in Belmont, California. She was surrounded by her family.
Edith Victoria Schave Sofos was born on September 3, 1923 in East Moline, Illinois. Loving Spouse, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Great Aunt, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, neighbor, hard worker, creative seamstress, dedicated gardener, lively dancer, and lifetime nurse are just a few words that can be used to describe her. Childhood siblings include Clarence, Forrest, Carol, Lois, and Esley. In 1944 in Moline, Illinois, Edith graduated and received her nursing degree from the Moline Public Hospital. Shortly thereafter in 1945 she contributed to the War effort by working as a nurse at the Dixon Ordinance Ammunition Plant in Illinois. Edith then rebelliously traveled out West to California with her nursing school classmate Arlie Shultz to work at the Fort Miley Veterans Hospital in San Francisco. On October 8, 1949, she married World War II Veteran Phillip Gus Sofos in San Francisco, California. They raised two sons, Steve and Rick. Later she worked for 19 years as a Mills Peninsula nurse.
She loved being on the job, whether it meant reading the instructions manual, or rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty. She accepted any new projects with strong yet quiet confidence. Her lifelong learning spirit was contagious, at 95 years old she purchased the best iPhone on the market and made a great connection with Siri, not to mention the many text messages, pictures, and phone calls she used to communicate with relatives. She had the best, brightest, flowers on the block and was dedicated to gardening vegetables. She traveled throughout the United States to fulfill feeling the music in her soul through square dancing and would always pop in a music scroll into her player piano at home. While she heated up her daily evening TV dinners, she practiced her dance steps. She had her chocolate chip cookie, zucchini bread, and pancake recipes memorized and insisted on mixing everything by hand to fill her home with the sweet aroma of homemade baked goods.
Edith maintained a hope chest with her knitting work that she completed in anticipation for her great grandchild. Her faithful 50 year old Singer sewing machine kept her busy with maintenance, accepting simple projects from family members such as hemming, and creating some of the most beautiful blankets. She was committed to self care, and had a massage once a month for twenty years, and went on daily walks to the neighborhood market to pickup the newspaper. Being outside was part of her as she relaxed on her front porch, and back patio on her large swing.
She had quite a sweet tooth, her staple pantry items included packages of Oreos, anything marshmallow, occasional Coca-Colas, Pepsis, and 7-ups, coffee, oatmeal with cinnamon and sugar, Trader Joe's potato chips, and always Extra chewing gum. She only turned on her TV to watch specific shows which included old movies, her favorite being Marco Polo, The Price is Right, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, the nightly news, and of course all sports. She was an avid baseball fan, her favorite team being the Oakland A's, enjoyed basketball, football, hockey, and loved spending time with her sons watching football either live at a local game or tuning into one on the TV together.
Edith had the knowledge and eye for bargain shopping, was sharp as a knife at mathematics, which helped maintain her diligence when balancing her check book and measuring during her sewing projects. Reading mysteries kept her up sometimes until 2am, because she would have to finish the novel. Her final food request was old fashioned vanilla ice cream and a Coca-Cola soda pop. She lived in the moment, always.
Edith loved fiercely, and her spirt of generosity will be forever carried on. She was preceded in death by her father, Ernest Edward William Schave, her mother, Irene Mable Mosher Schave, and former husband, Phillip Gus Sofos. A beloved Mother to Stephen (Rae Sofos) and Richard (April Sofos), unconditional Grandmother to Summer Rose and Shane (Alicia Nightengale-Sofos), attentive Great Grandmother to Syrus Augustus, admirable Sister to Lois Schave Everett and Carol Schave Craton, devoted Aunt to Vicky Salmeri and Sharon Brooks, and Great Aunt to Missy Maynard and many more.
Celebration of Life and Memorial details: https://tinyurl.com/edithsofos