Progress-Index 2023 Newsmaker: Colonial Heights centenarian makes dolls to bless others

COLONIAL HEIGHTS — Centenarian Eva Daywalt Mowen is lively and quick like good ol' St. Nick and just as generous. She could easily serve as a workshop elf and make toys for girls and boys.

Born in Lebanon, Penn., Mowen turned 100 this year on August 16. A little birdie told me about this special lady who devotes her time and talent to help those in need.

Mowen, a Progress-Index 2023 Newsmaker, has quite an accomplishment to include on her resume to Santa. She has helped make hundreds of dolls as part of a mission that began in a basement in Chester a decade ago.

Dolls on a Mission: Ambassadors bless the broken, impoverished, lost

"We make dolls for children and hurting hearts around the globe," Mowen said. "I bring 25 home at a time and in a week return them to the church. Dolls on a Mission volunteers meet weekly."

As Eva meticulously stitches the opening on each doll's side, she prays for the doll to reach a child who needs it. Each unique doll serves as a precious messenger of God. The cards on the handcrafted dolls are written in the language where they spread good cheer to bless the broken, impoverished and lost.

"We give hundreds away at a time," Mowen said. "My son-in-law Dorsey does missionary work and takes them with him to give to the children in Nicaragua and other countries. They're easy to transport."

Throughout her life, Mowen has participated in short-term missions from New Mexico to Ohio and Brazil. The dolls also travel to Africa, Ukraine, Haiti, Greece, Russia, Mexico and many other countries. In the U.S., they are requested by churches, police departments, nursing homes, Native American reservations, women's shelters and other organizations.

"Every breath of her day is to serve the Lord. She is just an incredible human being and an inspiration to the other 29 women," Lynda Hailey, Dolls on a Mission volunteer, said. "Her fellowship with Dolls on a Mission is part of her life blood."

Dolls on a Mission welcomes donations of cotton material, craft beads, fiber fill stuffing, yarn, red and black Sharpies and thread. For more information, visit Dolls on a Mission Chester VA on Facebook. If you would like to donate materials, contact Lynda Hailey at 804-920-0725. The group of dollmakers meets weekly at Grace Lutheran Church at 13028 Harrowgate Road in Chester on Mondays from 1-3 p.m. The volunteers made over 5,000 dolls this year, and their grand total for 10 years is over 30,000.

Operation Christmas Child: Petersburg team

Thousands of dolls have also been prayerfully placed in Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to reach children in need around the world. Mowen has been very passionate about her role as a Samaritan's Purse volunteer. In 1995, she started packing parties for Operation Christmas Child when she resided in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Since 2005, she has packed shoe boxes on the Operation Christmas Child Petersburg team.

"God works in mysterious ways. I told my niece about the shoeboxes and now she's doing them at a church near her," Mowen shared.

Eva Daywalt Mowen: 100-year-old prayer warrior

"It was a rough road up until the last 10 years. I've found calm and peace here in Virginia. The Lord brought me here for some reason," Mowen, a Colonial Heights resident, said.

Mowen, born in 1923, had seven siblings. During the 1919-1921 Spanish flu, three of them died. She is the only remaining sibling. She was raised mainly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania until age 16 and then in South Mountain. Her father spent time in a sanitarium off and on and ended up losing his business due to the aftermath of the Spanish flu.

"We ended up in Catholic orphanages. It was a lonesome time. I would wander around inside the building. One time, I got in trouble for laughing in church at the sound of Christmas ribbon being twirled," Mowen shared. "After church, my friend and I went to the dormitory to take off our Sunday dresses. It was there, where nuns slapped my friend and I each about three times with the ruler. I felt bad for my friend because I was the only one who laughed."

Mowen recalls a big, long sewing room which was all glass in the back of the building. Children ages 16-18 made their own dresses in the room. "I said to myself, 'Oh, I would love to do that.' Guess that's how I got into sewing," Mowen said.

At age 18, Mowen married Cleason Daywalt who served in the U.S. Army. They had three children. He went overseas right away, and she didn't see him for almost four more years. I asked Mowen when her children were born. She responded, "One before the war, one after the war, and one while on vacation."

Her daughter Susan who was a Pennsylvania resident died three years ago at age 74. Her daughter Elizabeth "Liz" Kimbrell of Hopewell is currently 80 years old and her son Pete Daywalt, who lives in Pennsylvania near Waynesboro, is 77. Mowen was married for 49 years. Complications from a surgery her husband had due to a serious condition made him paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound for 11 years until he died.

At age 78, Mowen remarried in 2001. "His wife was dead. Mine was dead. You get lonesome after 11 years," Mowen said. Dick Mowen was also a U.S. Army soldier. Her first and second husbands were friends and actually worked side by side together as cooks. In July of 2003, her second husband was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away in February 2004.

In 2014, Mowen experienced depression. She felt as if there wasn't much to do. "I guess if I had known the right people, I could have stayed busy. That's when I called my daughter to move me from South Mountain to be near her," Mowen said.

Q & A with Centenarian Eva Daywalt Mowen

In 100 years, where have you lived the longest?

Up in South Mountain, a little village up on the mountain near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

What career path or paths did you choose in life?

The path that I chose through life was taking care of my family, keeping them intact, trusting in the Lord and asking him for guidance, and praying with my husband. My second husband came to know the Lord when we were married.

I started as a waitress and worked my way up to being a substitute dietician at a big hospital in South Mountain.

What other volunteer activities are you involved in?

I have served as secretary and chaplain at the Senior Club which meets every Thursday at the Colonial Heights Senior Center on Roanoke Ave. A neighbor that I recruited drives us there. She's a good neighbor. We look out for each other.

Do you have any hobbies?

Sewing and reading a little bit of everything. I really like books about Southern women, their upbringing and stuff. It doesn't have to be a love story. I also read little inspirational paperback books.

I like to sit here in the evening, turn on some church music, enjoy the peace and talk to the Lord. I never read the Bible until after I got married and went to his church.

My neighbor and I go to bingo every Friday night at the American Legion in Colonial Heights and go to church at Calvary Baptist Church on the Boulevard. Dorsey and my daughter attend it. I like the preacher. He is good.

Would you like to see a casino in the Tri-Cities in the future?

I used to go to casinos, but I haven't in a long time. I could do very well without it. They would wonder what I was doing there anyway. My income doesn't allow me to go to a casino.

What is your secret to longevity?

Oh my, just overcome any little bump along the road, trials and tribulations and keep your heart on the Lord. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. The Lord knew who he was going to give me to. My parents were loving.

Did you ever imagine you would become a centenarian?

No, I used to be afraid to get to 59. My grandmother and father both died at 59. After I got passed that, life was hard but still good.

What do you feel is your greatest achievement in life?

My married life, remembering ‘death till us part,’ and raising three children. They didn't do drugs but smoked when we weren't around. They all have done well financially, and I can be proud of them now. They're all church going. The Lord gave me the opportunity to raise them right.

If you could change one thing about the world today, what would that be?

Bring prayer back into the school and teach the things that were taught years ago and not the garbage they teach them now. Kids now a days don't know how to make change.

What has been your ultimate favorite pastime over the years?

Well, all I can say is collecting items for the shoeboxes: pens, garden gloves, notepads, socks, etc.

What would you consider your three favorite inventions over the years?

In 1939, I went to see the World's Fair in New York with my sister and her mother-in-law, and we went up in a big building shaped like a ball. They showed us ovens and microwaves in the wall, toaster ovens and different refrigerators. Then, they told us to look down and look at the roads and showed us how it was going to be in the future. It was unbelievable. Cars looked like little ants.

My brother said there would be gas stations in the air. He read Buck Rogers comic books. He wasn't far off since planes fuel each other up in the sky.

The third would be how bones can be replaced now with technology and medication and stuff.

If you could travel back in time, what decade would you revisit and why?

That's a hard one. Well, I'd say, the 40s because I got married, had three children and was able to stay home and raise them.

Any regrets in life?

I wish I had been able to finish my dietician’s achievement. I could only sub since I didn't have my degree. I would have had to go to school for another year to learn what the different compounds do, and I just couldn't afford that.

What advice would you give to a teenager?

If parents don't give them the answers they need, who are they going to get it from? Stay in school and get a good education.

What advice would you give to newlyweds?

Well, pray together. If you pray together, you'll stay together, and remember the vows are 'till death do us part.'

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Mowen moaned, moaned a second time, and said, "That's a hard one." After a long pause, she answered.

Not to let my emotions creep up on me all the time. I'm very sensitive. I can cry at the drop of a pin. If the kids and I were watching a sad TV show. They'd look at me and then each other and knew my eyes were getting ready to weep.

Care to share your most embarrassing moment?

When a group of us were having breakfast after work. I blundered out the statement, "I don't think much of a woman who would leave her husband and baby and go traipsing off with another man." Little did I know… that woman was seated with us. I had to apologize in public. It was embarrassing, but I got over it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how has life treated you for a century?

It was rough, I'd say the first 16 were about a 6, and from then on it got better.

How do you stay young and healthy?

I stay young and healthy pretty good, but I put my trust in the Lord and let him handle it. I used to go to the gym when my insurance covered it.

What goes through your mind when you continue to outlive friends and relatives?

I think why me Lord, you must have something you want me to do yet.

If you could only eat the same meal for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

It would be spaghetti and a salad. Carini's has the best since they don't mind me asking them for extra sauce.

How do you feel about the world transitioning and growing with advanced technology compared to when you were younger?

I don't like this transition of genders and teaching it at the schools to first graders. Do you want to be a girl? You can be a girl. You want to be a boy? You can be a boy. I'm glad I'm not raising children right now. I'd be in jail all the time.

What is one thing you stressed out about the most in life, but it didn't end up mattering?

I went on vacation and hid my keys so good I couldn't find them. After two months, I found them in the back of my cake pans. We hunted every drawer and turned the place apart.

What is the thing that did matter that you wished you had thought more about?

Recently, I had to get a glaucoma test for my driver’s license and was supposed to go back to my eye doctor in three months but didn't. I went back in four and he found macular degeneration and had to get a shot in the eye. It will be a lifelong thing most likely. It's not curable. They can just slow the process.

What has been your happiest day?

When I relinquished my life to the Lord because I knew I could depend on him.

What was your saddest day?

When my six-year-old boy started his first day of school. We lived in the country, and when he started walking down that lane to go to school, I could hardly bare it.

What has been your overall biggest challenge in life, and how did you overcome it?

Well, I don't know. There were so many. The biggest challenge is having your children die before you. How do you manage it? Remember to talk about them and not to go on without remembering them.

What do you feel is your purpose?

After my husband died and my kids had their own lives to lead, they just didn't need me. So, my purpose in life is making my Dolls on a Mission babies.

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Kristi K. Higgins aka The Social Butterfly, an award-winning columnist, is the trending topics and food Q&A reporter at The Progress-Index voted the 2022 Tri-Cities Best of the Best Social Media Personality. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Contact Kristi (she, her) at khiggins@progress-index.com, follow @KHiggins_PI on X and @socialbutterflykristi on Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: 2023 Newsmaker Eva Mowen: 100-year-old makes dolls to bless others