Eva Chase
February 16, 1907 - February 20, 2005
Eva Lieuween Tonkinson was born February 16, 1907, in Winfield, Kansas. Her parents were Harley and Anna Lawson Tonkinson. She had an older sister Paulina, also known as Polly, and a younger brother Mason.
Lieuween was awarded the Bachelor of Music degree on June 20, 1926 from Winfield College of Music, which later merged with Southwestern College. She then was Instructor in Piano in the School of Fine Arts of Southwestern College.
While at Southwestern, Lieuween served as practice accompanist for Achille Fiermonte, head of the Voice Department of the College, and his wife Anna, both of whom later joined the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She also accompanied them in concerts.
On July 26, 1929, she married Hamilton Chase, a Winfield resident originally from Topeka. He was manager of the Winfield business office of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Their daughter, Frances Lieuween, was born May 15, 1930. In 1935, the family moved to Chanute, Kansas, to Dodge City in 1938 and to Kansas City in 1944. Mr. Chase died of a heart attack while on vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1969. Mrs. Chase moved to Sun City , Arizona, in 1977.
Mrs. Chase served as the organist for St. Cornelius’ Episcopal Church in Dodge City from 1939 to 1944. She regularly played in musical programs as a member of the piano department of the Kansas City Musical Club from 1944 to 1977 and of the Sun City Music Club. She also was a member of Moment Musical and the musical sorority Mu Phi Epsilon. She served as treasurer of the K.C.M.C. and president of Moment Musical
She regularly accompanied Carroll Proctor while in Kansas City and Byron Healy in Sun City. She played concerts, many of them benefits, for such group as the Fortnightly Musical Club of St. Joseph, Mo., St. Cornelius Church in Dodge City, the Art and Literature Club in Chanute, the Women’s City Club of Kansas City and the Twentieth Century Club in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Her husband, daughter and grandsons were regularly privileged to have the joy of live music at home.
Her daughter and son-in-law, Donald, P. Courtsal, live in Ingomar, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Mrs. Chase also is survived by two grandsons, Lyle who lives in Seattle, and Charles who lives in Rochester, New York, his wife Lisa Marie Gwinner and one great-grandson, Brendan Rogers Courtsal. A memorial service is scheduled in Pittsburgh for May 7.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City, the Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Kansas City Musical Club or the Harold T. Chase Memorial Fund of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.
