Eva Craig

Eva Mae was born on August 18, 1889 to Alfred and Unity Jane Ragan in Alpha, Washington, near the Chehalis area. Her family moved soon after to the Vancouver area in Washington Territory. They later lived in Crescent City, California, before settling in Selma, Oregon, where she attended school. She worked very hard in her home and was very lonely, having only one older stepbrother.

She married Roy Craig, October 4, 1904, at age fifteen. Several years later, they moved to Dorris, California, where Roy supervised the lumberyard. They had a cow, chickens, and a large garden every year. The children helped can many jars of food.

When the flu epidemic hit in 1918, Eva made house calls with the doctor. She’d had some nurse’s training and owned a huge medical book. She never contracted the flu, but several members of her family became ill with it.

In 1924, a revival came to Dorris. They never missed a service, taking all eight of their children with them. A number of the Gospel crew stayed at their home, and Eva loved cooking for their guests.

After they were saved, Roy and Eva sought and received their sanctification. Roy soon received his baptism, but Eva had her own idea that she would receive it quietly. When she consecrated for the Lord’s will, she received it His way.

They began having family altar. Eva taught the children to sit still on used upturned three-gallon tin cans until they were big enough to sit on regular chairs. These were also used at prayer time.

After they moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon, there were three more boys born over the years, but one died at the age of six weeks from pneumonia. There were a total of twelve children, and ten were raised to maturity.

Eva took in laundry to pay for music lessons for the children. At one time, before World War II, there were six of their children in the church orchestra, as well as a son-in-law and a grandson.

It was difficult to have two sons go off to war. Many times they were awakened in the night feeling something was wrong, and they would pray until the feeling lifted. After the war, they learned that one or the other of the sons had been in grave danger, but God had brought them through.

Eva loved picnics and church dinners. She was a wonderful cook, her specialty was lemon pies. She also was a wonderful Sunday school teacher who was loved by all.

The children honored Roy and Eva with receptions for their fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries, and they were able to celebrate sixty-five years of married life before Eva was called to her reward on February 14, 1970. Her family considered her an example of the virtuous woman (Proverbs 31).