SEQUIM — Eva Fridell, who lived her life with humor and a fierce independence, died Saturday afternoon in her easy chair at home in Sequim.
She is believed to have been the oldest person in Washington and one of the oldest in the United States.
She didn’t credit her long life to exercise or health foods. In fact, she hated exercise as much as she did drinking milk. But she loved sweets, Irish coffee and the occasional cold beer.
Mrs. Fridell was born Eva Greenwood on May 28, 1893, in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in the Seattle area.
She moved to Sequim in 1988 and lived by herself until five years ago, when a fall prompted her to moved in with her grandson, Gregg Saunders, and his wife, Karen.
“I feel totally lost. I have been her major caregiver,” grandson Saunders said Saturday evening.
“I will have a big, empty hole in my days now.”