Eva Fry Interview
Eva Fry recently marked her 80th birthday with a grand celebration and she did it with a big smile on her beautiful face and many plans for the future. I managed to get her to sit still for an hour and visit with me about her full life. She’s physically active, keeps herself mentally stimulated and is grateful for her many talents. She’s a singer, a song writer, a champion walker, an author, a pageant winner, a comedienne, a motivational speaker, a dedicated swimmer, a survivor, and a life-long positive thinker.
A recent knee injury slowed Eva down a little. She’s replaced her daily run with power walking and swimming and as the current Ms. Idaho Senior America will participate in the 2019 National Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey slated for the end of October.
Eva is Canadian by birth, but immigrated to the United States in 1990 becoming a citizen in 1993. She and her husband settled in San Diego, California where they owned and managed a successful construction business together. They also raised their family of three children inevitably becoming empty nesters. That is when Eva decided it was time to accomplish her dreams. At the age of 60 she wanted to be an entertainer and launched a whole new career to an audience of senior citizens in a care center where her own mother resided. She learned old songs appealing to that age range, taught herself to play the piano and guitar and using those talents performed for senior citizens in various senior care facilities. Since that time, she has written and produced dozens of original songs now permanently etched on six CD’s spanning many genres. Her lyrics are inspirational as well as motivational with music produced by Justin Grey, music director of Lawrence Welk theater and Marsi Carr, a musician from Southern California.
At this point in our interview Eva pointed to what some might refer to as an “age spot” on her arm and said that’s actually a senior tattoo and since I can’t change it, I laugh about it. She’s also a comedienne and has added comedy routines to her repertoire. Many years ago, she won the National Speaking Championship for Phi Rho Pi (Colleges and Universities) and became a speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, due to her own experience as a victim of a drunk driver.
At the age of 62 Eva wrote and published her first book, “You Must Have A Dream.” It’s dedicated to seniors about overcoming obstacles that may be stopping their growth. She writes about necessary skills to reach potential and live dreams.
A cause near and dear to her heart involves troubled youth. She herself came from a background of dysfunction with an alcoholic father and an emotionally disturbed mother. She understood this pain and it motivated her to do what she could to inspire youth to reach out for help thus changing their lives and improving their circumstances by making better choices. In her next book she used her articulation skills to create “Be A Winner in Life.” This book is dedicated to troubled teens and their parents. Another book, “Letters from Juvenile Hall – Kids Helping Kids” is a result of her ten years volunteering at Juvenile Hall in San Diego. This experience helped her to understand why kids make the choices they do often destroying their lives in the process. She requested these youth to write letters sharing their life experiences and the subsequent consequences. She hoped these very personal experiences would help their readers to opt for alternatives and avoid incarceration. Each young writer shared their pain and made pleas to the readers to carefully evaluate future decisions. The response was overwhelming and Eva realized the letters must be made public for the benefit of parents as well as youth. Ms. Fry was named the Volunteer of the Year for Juvenile Institutions in 1997, recognizing her invaluable help in this important work.
Another favorite activity for Eva is teaching at the Dixie State University for the Institute for Continuing Learning. Her class is entitled, “Celebrate Your Senior Years – How to Fully Live Your Retirement Years,” with a goal of helping seniors be excited about their futures. “You’re only as old as you allow yourself to be,” she intones. “We have a spirit inside that never grows old unless we let it. We need to discover our gifts and talents and share them with others and never stop learning and growing. The greatest joy we will achieve in this life will come from bringing happiness to others through service thus reaching our own potential. By pursuing the dreams of our hearts, we will be motivated toward this righteous purpose,” she states.
Eva and her husband Al have been married for 60 years and Eva describes her mate as being supportive through her varied interests. She further advises people to be committed to their relationships and never give up. I asked about their common interests and she laughed that they enjoyed spending time with their children and nine grandchildren who all live fairly close by and often get together for Sunday dinners. Beyond that, “We golf together, but I’m a terrible golfer so I drive the cart,” she chuckled.
The Fry family is actively involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints and in fact, Eva and her husband served as missionaries for eight years in the Addiction Recovery Program.
Eva went on to state, “My philosophy in life is that life is what you make it and if you choose to do good works, your life will be filled with happiness and joy. We all have the power to make a positive difference in life.”
I asked Eva about her plans for the future. She told me she has an ongoing bucket list; one she is constantly refilling with things she wants to try. She also encouraged me to get involved with my local Senior Citizen Center, a place you’ll find Eva happily performing her routines. “When you open a door, you never know where it will take you and you’re happier when you communicate and engage with other people,” she concluded.