Eva Schoonover, 42, of Montrose, Colorado died Thursday, June 19, 2025, at her home in her husband’s arms.
Eva was born at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, on December 19, 1982, to Mark and Lynne Stovicek. She is the cherished wife of Harlan Schoonover, beloved mother of Caleb, Waylon, Atlas and Fletcher, all of Montrose.
As a child Eva lived on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, in a rural area, enjoying life to the fullest and developing her incredible and loving personality. Eva spent summers after high school working at the historic Western Hotel in Ouray for family friends and then returned to Ohio to go on to earn her bachelor’s degree in education from Kent State University.
Eva had an incredibly adventurous spirit. After earning her degree she spent a semester student teaching in England and utilized every weekend and the following summer months backpacking solo around Europe. Her travels took her from floating hostels on boats in the Scandinavian peninsula to Rome and all places in between. When she returned she spent a year living in O’ahu with friends before settling in to the Ouray and Ridgway area and quickly becoming a cherished member of the community. She worked various jobs around town, and her infectious spirit drew people to her.
Eventually her caring and charitable spirit led her to join the Ridgway Volunteer Fire Department, which sent her to a multi-jurisdictional fire training in Pagosa Springs, where she met her soulmate, Harlan, from Texas. They quickly became inseparable, bonding over a shared love of excitement, adventure and a general zest for the thrill of life. They became engaged on a motorcycle ride to the headwaters of the Rio Grande, a place they felt intertwined their existences. They were wed in early summer 2016. Children soon followed. She found fulfillment in life by being an incredible wife to her husband and mother to her four sons.
As if being a mother wasn’t enough, she also enjoyed a healthy dose of competition. One of her favorite things to do in the summer was compete in the annual Fourth of July water fights in Ouray with her fighting partner, Sarah Martinez, where they went on to be undefeated for more than a decade.
In 2018, Eva and Harlan took a leap of faith and decided to open their own family business that eventually grew into what is now Schoonover’s Auto Center, where on any day you could find their three young boys growing up with a world of excitement playing inside and outside of the shop, riding dirt bikes in the parking lot and learning all sorts of cool new words. You would find the oldest working in the shop with his father learning all the tricks of the trade and Eva handling a very busy front office with grace, skill, compassion and always a smile on her face. Eva was an integral part of the business and, really, the town of Ridgway as a whole.
On her days off she enjoyed motorcycle rides all over the Western states with her husband, including multiple moto-camping trips up the California coastline. She was also filled with love and happiness watching all four of her sons compete in an off-road dirt bike racing circuit.
In her final years, Eva’s courage showed in a nearly four-year battle with multiple cancers that she refused to let define her. She handled it with a grace and strength that knew no bounds. When asked why her, she would respond with, “Why not me?” She endured many, many treatments and trials throughout her ordeal and fought like the champion she is until the very end. Her love for her family was a driving force and she will be deeply missed by her family and all who had the blessing of knowing her.
She is survived by her parents Mark and Lynne Stovicek of Ridgway; siblings Gregg (Elizabeth) Stovicek of Cleveland, Ohio, Thomas (Maria) Stovicek of Denver, Elizabeth Stovicek of Ouray, Sarah (Thomas) Gallagher of South Bend, Indiana, Michael (Lexus) Stovicek of Dolores; and grandmother Patricia Brophy-Signori of Easton, Massachusetts.
