Distinguished Alumnus
Class of 2024

Eva Elizabeth Monfort Ridenour

AHS Class of 1962

As an Arcola High School student, Eva Monfort was inspired to write in Miss Violet Whitson’s English classes, guiding her life as an accomplished author of fiction, poetry and history. Her interest in Arcola’s past paved the way for an extensive work that chronicles the history of Arcola for the benefit of generations to come.

Eva Elizabeth Monfort, the daughter of Vide S. and Frieda Butler Monfort, was born June 18, 1944. The Monforts lived in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, before moving to Arcola when Eva was just eighteen months old. She later welcomed siblings Suzanne, Linda and Joseph Douglas Monfort.

At Arcola High School, Eva played clarinet in Band and was also an officer in Modern Music Masters. She was active in Girls Athletic Association and participated in her junior and senior class plays. Eva served on The Torch yearbook staff and wrote of school events for “Arco-Lite” in Arcola Record-Herald.

Following her 1962 high school graduation, Eva’s clerical and administrative skills guided her forty-year working career, beginning at Arcola Lumber Company. After a stint at Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis, she worked the next several years at the University of Illinois before relocating to Arizona in 1973, where she was employed by the Arizona State Compensation Fund and then Mission Insurance. In 1985, Eva returned to Arcola and was again employed at the University of Illinois, where she was awarded the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Staff Award in 1994. Her University of Illinois career culminated in 2002 with her position as administrative secretary in the French Department.

Eva was able to further her education as she worked. Her studies began at St. Louis University in 1963 and continued at the University of Illinois and Eastern Illinois University, where she completed a Bachelor of Science Degree through the Board of Governors Program in 1989.

Throughout her working years and since, Eva developed a prolific avocation as an author of history, fiction and poetry. In her early writing profession, Eva’s work was published in national magazines including Grit, Boy’s Life, Family Motor Coaching and Persimmon Hill, as well as religious publications. Many of these works reference Arcola or are based on Eva’s memories of her childhood years in Arcola. Her poetry appeared in Well Versed, a publication of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild, and in Mid-America Poetry Review at Central Missouri University. Eva researched and wrote her mother’s family history in 1992, Sorghum and Quilts: The Ancestors and Descendants of Charles Harvey and Nancy Elizabeth Hall Butler. She is also the thirty-year author of “The Butler Babblings”, her family’s quarterly newsletter.

Under her pen name, Elizabeth Butler, Eva published her first novel in 1998, The Colonel’s Widow, followed by Trailboss and J.D.’s Rustler. Her other fiction works include Master of the Night, Calico Queen, Libby, Blue Light Special and Yellow Brick Road Collide, Honeysuckle and Happy New Year Emily Rose. Several of her books bear her original photography and design. In 2004, The Missouri Writers’ Guild awarded Eva their highest honor, the Walter Williams Major Work Award, for her novel titled Libby.

Eva’s interest in Arcola history was stirred at a young age when she attended the historical pageant of Arcola’s 1955 centennial celebration. Her family continued to nurture that interest in her home town. Fifty years later, at the time of Arcola’s sesquicentennial, she completed Amazing Arcola: The Little Town that Could – And Did! Eva’s compilation of more than 350 pages was the result of years of research and countless personal interviews with Arcola citizens, capturing the first 150 years of Arcola history. In 2006, this historical resource received an honorable mention award for the Walter Williams Major Work from The Missouri Writers’ Guild.

Community service has also played an important role in Eva’s life. While living in Arcola, she was a seventeen-year member of Ghere-Pullen-Reinheimer VFW Post 7862 Auxiliary, serving as patriotic instructor and secretary/treasurer. Following her 2002 retirement and relocation to Missouri, Eva served on the Armstrong City Council, Armstrong Community Revitalization Committee and Howard County Hazardous Waste Committee. She served as secretary of Armstrong Literary Club, publisher of the monthly newsletter for the City of Armstrong, was former treasurer and is a current board member of Armstrong Senior Citizens. Eva was also honored to serve as president of Urbana’s Prairie Heart Writers as well as president, administrative secretary and treasurer of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild.

Eva married Robert E. Ridenour in Hammond, Indiana, on July 13, 1965. Their daughter, Angelina, was born the following year. The young family resided in Missouri, Indiana and Illinois before relocating to Arizona in 1973. They returned to Arcola in 1985 and upon her retirement in 2002, Eva and Bob then moved to Armstrong, Missouri, to be closer to their daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson.

Eva now resides in Fayette, Missouri, with her family nearby. She continues to write poetry, enjoys watercolor painting and also maintains family photo albums.