Happy 95th birthday to Edna Van Lueven

submitted by Doug Hill -- My mother, Edna Van Lueven was born on June 20, 1920 in Philadelphia, PA. to Ambrose and Edna Hoffman. She was the younger of two sisters and is now celebrating her 95th. birthday. In 1943 she married my father Don Hill and had five sons: Don Jr. 1944, Doug 1946, David 1953, Dean 1955 and Dan in 1955. We figured out the other day that over that time she had washed about 45,000 diapers! During this time Edna worked in an optometrists office, in a war factory, a drug store,  running her own employment agency, and as a waitress to supplement family income. All the time taking care of five growing sons! In 1964 my parents divorced and Edna, with five sons in tow, moved from Ambler, PA. to Santa Barbara, CA. The trip took almost two weeks and the movie "Vacation" mirrored our experience traveling west. We later moved to Southern California where she met an married my step-father, a retired Marine, Ralph Van Leuven in 1969. He was a decorated WWII, Korean and Viet Nam War veteran who passed away in 1984 when they lived in Lowman, Idaho. After that, Edna finished her book, "Tombstones and Tumbleweeds," published by Avalon Books as she had promised "Van" as we called him, she would do. Mom and I both eventually ended up in Nevada. In 1995 at the age of 71 Edna was hired by the Reno-Gazette Journal to run the front office of their Carson City location and also wrote a monthly column for them. She later moved to Fallon to live with me where I'd been since 1988. Edna continued her writing with a weekly column called "Then and Now" for the Lahontan Valley News. She also briefly worked as a Real Estate agent for Mike Berney. She is the proud mother of five sons and their wives, five grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Having grown up in the Great Depression she has taught us the value of hard work and never taking anything for granted. She counts every day as a blessing and continues to be a blessing to our family and many others. As you can see, she is a Jack-of-all-trades person. In her spare time she does hand designed stitching known as Crewel work and has donated many items to local community groups such as CAPS and the Fallon Youth Club. I'm so proud to be able to call this very special lady "Mom" and I hope all of you will also wish her a Very Happy 95th. birthday. We're now planning her 100th.   Sign up to receive updates and the Friday File email notices. Support local, independent news – contribute to The Fallon Post, your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon