Eva ‘Elaine’ McKenzie

She was born Eva “Elaine” Thompson in Blythedale, Missouri, on July 11, 1917, and grew up in Eagleville, Missouri, on the Iowa border with her older sister, Neva and her younger sister, Mary.

Tragically, their mother died in 1920, at the end of the “Spanish flu” epidemic. She was raised by her father, James Clarence and her “aunt”, Maude.

She met her future husband, Roy, at the University of Missouri, in Kansas City. She was impressed that he owned a car. They married on December 17, 1939.

They moved to Minnesota, where he worked in the munitions plant and took evening classes in chemical engineering to put her through her undergraduate and then medical school at the University of Minnesota, where she earned her MD in 1946, as a general practitioner.

She practiced at the Rice Street Clinic and admitted patients to Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul. She studied for two years and passed her boards to become one of the first certified in the new specialty “Family Practice.”

With the help of her “housekeeper” of 18 years, Singhild Peterson, she and Roy raised their three children, Stuart William, Ann Catherine, and Douglas Edward. Stuart had a career with the Air Force and as an Airline Pilot, while Ann and Doug both took after their mother as Family Practitioners.

Elaine was very active with the Minnesota Medical Society, she was a Sorority mother for years.

She enjoyed maintaining her special acre of woods in North Oaks, Minnesota, landscaping, weeding, planting ferns, and digging “pond muck” to make a very fertile point in North Mallard Pond. She also enjoyed feeding her many birds, chipmunks and deer.

After retirement in 1982, she and Roy devoted their energy to birdwatching, traveling the country with their daughter, Ann, and then the world on birding tours.

They moved to the retirement community Waverly Gardens, north of St. Paul, in 2006, where she enjoyed bird watching, reading, and watching her cats.

Her husband, Roy, died at 97 years old in 2011. Stuart moved her to Portage Pointe in Hancock, in July 2015. Her son, Doug, and his family gave her abundant family time with daily visits and Sunday family dinners at Doug’s home as recently as two weeks before her death.

She took no nutrition or fluids for 11 days. Many hugs were given and farewells spoken. Somehow deep in her dementia, she managed to stay alive until her medical student granddaughter, Erin, arrived from Lansing for a hug, on the night of December 26, 2018. She peacefully took her last breath at 4:56 a.m. on December 27, 2018.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Ethel; her father, James Clarence; her sisters, Neva and Mary; and her husband, Roy.

She is survived by her son, Stuart in Colorado and Florida; her daughter, Ann in Wabasha, Minnesota; and her son, Douglas in Hancock. She has four granddaughters, three grandsons, and two great-granddaughters.

She was a loving mother and wife with a character of strength and grace. She was a beloved, competent physician, she loved her family and animals, and she enhanced and touched many lives.

Special thanks to the aides, nurses and activity directors at Portage Pointe, her NP Deborah Lorenz, and her physician Dr. Terry Kinzel. Everyone treated her with great respect and dignity, making her last year’s comfortable and full of love.

Per Eva’s request, no services will be held.

To view Eva’s obituary or to send condolences to the family, please visit memorialchapel.net.

The Memorial Chapel & Plowe Funeral Homes of Hancock are assisting the family with the arrangements.