By Mike Dumovich
For The Beachcomber
Eve Dumovich, a writer, poet and journalist who once worked for the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, died on June 18, at the Puyallup Good Samaritan Hospital, after a battle with cancer. She was 78 years old.
Eve was born in London, England, on Sept. 28, 1942, during World War II. Her mother and father, Jadwiga Karolina Krupski and George Henry Krupski, immigrated to Montreal, Canada, following the war after his service with the British Air Force. Jadwiga was an educator who taught at Concordia University and George was an engineer.
Eve attended McGill University from 1959 to 1963, where she was the feature writer for the McGill Daily. She would go on to work as a feature writer for the Montreal Star as a reporter before heading to the West Coast of the United States.
She met Mike Dumovich Sr. in the coffee house scene, and moved to Seattle and then Vashon, where her daughter, Nina Ambjor, and son Mike Dumovich were born and raised.
On Vashon, beginning in the mid-1970s, she worked at the local paper, The Beachcomber, eventually becoming its news editor. It was here that she helped break the story of the Tacoma Smelter, operated by the ASARCO Company, and contributed to raising awareness regarding its environmental impact. She was also very involved in the flourishing art scene on Vashon at the time and hung out with artists such as Jack Corsaw, Bill Saniford and many other musicians, artists and writers. At that time, Al and Tony’s pizzeria was the central hub for that scene and she could be seen there frequently attending music events and open mics.
Eventually, she took a job at the Tacoma News Tribune as an entertainment writer, where she would work until she became a technical writer at Boeing.
After many years on the island, and after her children had left home, Eve followed through on her longtime dream to live closer to the wilderness and moved to the small town of Ashford, Washington, at the base of Mount Rainier. There she would continue to work for Boeing from home, write and self-publish four books of poems and stories, volunteer as a park ranger, get a motorcycle, go to countless blues festivals, take thousands of pictures of her beautiful surroundings, and befriend many in churches, in taverns, and at events. She lived the way she wanted.
Her strong-willed personality, love of the arts, nature, compassion for her friends and the people in her community left a legacy that impacted everyone who knew her.
She is survived by her son and daughter, Mike Dumovich and Nina Ambjor; her sister, Veronica Boaz; her brother, Andy Krupski and her grandson, Stephen Tronsdal.
