Monica A. Streff

Monica Anne Schwebach Streff, a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and longtime dedicated nurse, died Thursday Dec. 16 at her son and daughter-in-law’s home at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. She was 86 and had been healthy and active until May of this year.

Her husband of 65 years, Eldyn John Streff, 91, died the following day, after a long illness and less than 24 hours after being told of her death.

Monica was the daughter of Mike and Anna (Bricher) Schwebach.  She was born on a farm outside Dell Rapids, South Dakota, on Jan. 1, 1935, in difficult but loving circumstances: Her own mother died of breast cancer when Monica was only 11 months old, leaving six children and a husband. Monica’s son, Mike, marveled that a woman “knowing no mother of her own had turned into the best mother ever.”

Tragedy dogged her family early on, as she lost a sister and brother in a car accident in their young adulthood and another sister and brother to cancer in early adulthood, though her father and another brother lived long lives.  The losses in childhood caused her to prioritize her family above all else. But they also did not dim a sense of fun and lively personality that had her elected her tiny high school’s prom queen.

When Monica turned 80, her children and many grandchildren gathered at the then-family home in Olathe, Kan., to tell stories of her cheerfulness, optimism, kindness, courage, and fierce devotion to her family. Many wept.

After graduating from high school in 1952, Monica followed her older sister to nursing school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but this initial attempt was interrupted by the car accident that killed her sister and brother.  She returned the following fall and graduated from Presentation School of Nursing in Sioux Falls in 1956.  She met Eldyn Streff, from nearby Salem and a bookkeeper for International Harvester Company, on a blind date and they married in 1956.  In the following years as they raised five children Monica worked, often nights, as a registered nurse at nursing homes and hospitals.  She followed her husband as he was transferred from Sioux Falls to Huron, S.D., then Walla Walla, Wash.; Pleasanton, Calif.; Plano, Texas, and finally Olathe, Kan. At the Olathe Medical Center, she worked in the cardiac rehabilitation unit until retiring at age 70 in 2005.

Even when she was tired from full time work, she put her children first: setting everything aside to play with them on the floor or talk with them about their day when they returned from school.

After retiring, Monica and Eldyn lived in Olathe for many years. Monica loved to play bridge and to tinker in her garden, growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and perennial flowers. She often traveled to help her children when they had children of their own, in particular caring for her granddaughter Anne throughout Anne’s short life.  Those travels took her to far-flung family all over the United States and overseas as she helped care for grandchildren in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Virginia, Texas, Missouri, Washington DC, and Germany.

Monica and Eldyn were longtime members of Prince of Peace Catholic Church and volunteered for many years supporting the parish’s accounting department.  They went on a morning walk until two years before their deaths, keeping fit and active. Eldyn and Monica lived in their family home in Olathe until they became frail, then moved to an apartment and then a nearby independent living facility, and then in May 2021, to be near many of their children at Smith Mountain Lake in central Virginia near Roanoke.

Monica was Eldyn’s caregiver in his last years until she herself fell in June 2021 and then was diagnosed with advanced cancer. Her children and many dedicated caregivers took loving care of her in her last months.

Monica is survived by her son, Mike Streff and daughter-in-law Sara Streff of Moneta, Va.; her daughter Pam Streff of Moneta; her daughter Susan Heyroth and son-in-law Pete Heyroth of Moneta; her daughter Sally Buzbee of Washington DC and her daughter Mary Jane Baker and son-in-law Tom Baker of Kansas City, Mo. She also is survived by 10 grandchildren and one great grandson.  She was preceded in death by her parents, five brothers and sisters Bernie, George, Vince, Jim and Grace Schwebach, and by an infant granddaughter Anne Marie Buzbee.

A memorial service for Monica and Eldyn will be held in the summer in Kansas. Donations can be sent in her name to the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Olathe, Kansas.

Arrangements by Flora Funeral Service and Cremation, Rocky Mount/ Smith Mountain Lake.