Eleanor Lucille (Kruse) Vlahovich

Eleanor Lucille (Kruse) Vlahovich entered eternal rest on June 17, 2017 in Chandler Arizona.  Eleanor was known to all who knew her as a woman of quiet faith, sacrificial love, and graciousness.  She continuously offered words of encouragement and support to those she knew and loved.

Eleanor was born on May 12, 1923 in Huron, South Dakota to Earl and Esther Kruse.  The family moved to Indianola, Iowa when she was 5 years of age. Eleanor attended local schools in Indianola throughout high school and was a member of the National Honor Society and was a varsity athlete in basketball.

Eleanor graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Des Moines, Iowa with a Registered Nursing degree and practiced as an RN in Denver, Colorado, Tucson, Douglas and Bisbee, Arizona. Since the age of eight, Eleanor knew that she wanted to be a nurse.  This was her calling and she was known to be compassionate, caring and empathetic to her patients, young and old.

In 1945, Eleanor married Dushan Vlahovich.  They moved to Bisbee in 1953 where Dushan opened his law practice.  Eleanor and Dushan raised three children: Steve (Marsha), Ellen Starr (Mark), and Jim (Chrissy).  She worked for Phelps Dodge at the Copper Queen Hospital for 19 years.  She was the head nurse for several years and ended her service to the hospital as their Quality Assurance Coordinator.

Eleanor leaves behind five (5) grandchildren:  Jennifer Schwab, Matt Vlahovich, Christopher and Courtney Starr and Eli Vlahovich.  She also leaves behind five (5) great grandchildren, Mirielle, Kellan and Bryant Schwab, Grayson and Samuel Vlahovich and Kristian Sanchez.  Her grandchildren remember “Baba” or Grandma as a woman who was encouraging, thoughtful, patient, determined and encouraging with a kind sense of humor. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Earl, Esther and baby brother John, William, Louis and Leroy Kruse and her husband, Dushan in 2015.

Eleanor spent her retirement years doing housework, gardening, reading, volunteering at church, enjoying lunch with close friends and being a loving companion and caregiver to her husband. She was a proud member of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Bisbee, where she served on the Session and was an elder.  She was also a member of the Order of Eastern Star, the Sisters of the St. Stephens Nemenja Church, the American Red Cross, and the American Cancer Society.

Eleanor was proud that her rural, one-room schoolhouse was dismantled and erected as a permanent fixture at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  In fact, she took great pride that her one-room school house has been memorialized on a United States quarter.  At the same time, Eleanor fell in love with the State of Arizona, the stark beauty of the desert and her favorite mountain range, the Catalina Mountains in Tucson.

Eleanor was a woman of quiet faith and professed her faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior, weeks before she passed.  To those who knew her, Eleanor was a Proverbs 31 woman.  Proverbs, 30 & 31 states, “A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.   Give her the product of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.”   Her family believes she was welcomed into Heaven with these words, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

Services for Eleanor will be held at the Covenant Presbyterian Church located at 19 Howell Avenue in Bisbee on Friday, June 23rd at 10 a.m. followed immediately by a graveside service at the Evergreen Cemetery in Lowell.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Eleanor’s favorite charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Eleanor Lucille (Kruse) Vlahovich, please visit our floral store.