December 28, 2018

Adah was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, to Alex and Anna Coropoff, Jewish émigrés from Russia. The family moved to San Pedro, California, where Adah grew up with her sister Ruth and brother Morris. After graduating from San Pedro High School in 1942 and inspired by her love of literature, Adah entered college intending to study English and become a writer. One year later she changed her studies to nursing in response to the need for healthcare workers during World War II. In 1946 she graduated with her R.N. from the Los Angeles Community Hospital School of Nursing, and soon after married Bernard Gruver. Married life began for her in a traditional way. She worked as a staff nurse in a hospital until it was time to start a family, and he developed his career as a cartoonist in the animation industry. They had four children: Jean (deceased), Clifford (deceased), Nancy and Allison, and lived in Van Nuys, California.

In 1961 while raising her young family and being a youth group leader, Adah did something unconventional for the times. She returned to university to pursue a B.A. degree in Public Health, graduating in 1965, while earning Dean’s list honours despite family responsibilities. This credential opened the door for her to become a school nurse with the Los Angeles Unified School district, working in some of the most challenging high schools in the district. Students often referred to her as “Nurse Mom.” She was a tenacious advocate for their welfare, and her health office was a sanctuary for students needing a safe place to talk. One student wrote, “To me you were like a mother away from home. I hope you don’t mind playing that role because if you don’t, no one else will.”
Adah took a leave from the school nursing to join VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) (1975-77) following her divorce. Working in Casa Grande, Arizona and with the Tohono O’odham Nation, she made inroads in nursing home reform, health care worker training, and women’s and children’s welfare. Upon taking early retirement from school nursing in the early 80s, she returned briefly to her roots as a staff nurse with Kaiser Permanente Hospital, but resigned when she was refused time off for the birth of her first grandchild in Winnipeg in 1982.

Adah fell in love with Canada and immigrated in 1983 to be closer to her daughter Nancy and her family in Nova Scotia. She became a citizen in 1986, and was a very proud Canadian. Her last nursing position was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, working in oncology at the Victoria General Hospital where she was known for her compassion and sensitive attention to the emotional needs of the patients and their families. After losing her son Clifford, to brain cancer at the age of five, and as a survivor of breast cancer herself, she understood.

Following her retirement from nursing, Adah moved to a small acreage overlooking the Avon River in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, next door to Nancy and Steve and their three children. In 2006, Adah moved with Nancy and Steve to Kamloops, British Columbia, where she had her own suite in the house they shared.

Adah was driven to improve the quality of life for people, whether her family or friends, or local or international communities, and nursing was one of many avenues for her to pursue this passion. Whenever there was a cause for social justice she was there: at a rally, working quietly behind the scenes, or through charitable donations. If someone needed a place to stay or a compassionate ear, Adah was there to listen and help. In the 1950s through the 70s, she worked to end the injustices of the McCarthy Era, opposed the testing and proliferation nuclear arms during the Cold War, marched in demonstrations in opposition to military conscription and the war in Vietnam, advocated for women’s rights, and was a founding member of the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

In Canada she was an active volunteer with the New Democratic Party, CanGo Grannies, and the SPCA. These organizations gave her purpose and were also a source of lasting close friendships. She was President of Alexa McDonough’s Constituency Association (1987-1990), and Office Manager for two of her campaigns, and she spent many enjoyable hours working on Bill Sandhu’s campaign in Kamloops. As part of her commitment to the Grannies, her 80th and 90th birthday celebrations were fundraisers for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. She was a member of the board of the SPCA and most enjoyed the many hours she devoted to “her kitties” at the Kamloops Branch.

Adah also loved to travel. At the age of 80 she traveled with a pack on her back to Europe with her friend, Margie Macdonald. With Nancy, she traversed the eastern Ukraine to trace her father’s roots, twice crossed the Atlantic to Spain to commune with Picasso and Goya, delved into the museums of Vienna, relished the markets of Thailand, and froze in the Alaskan fjords. As she got older, after the age of 92, she enjoyed the less strenuous trips with Wells Gray Tours.

Her “fountain of youth” was the activity and companionship she found through a walking group and the North Shore YMCA-YWCA. She attended exercise classes almost daily, energized by the friendships she made there and the enjoyment of going for coffee and a chat after class. She drove herself to the Y until two months before she died.

In her quieter times she was an avid reader, loved TV murder mysteries, old movie classics and petting her cat. She made quilts and clothes for her grandkids, took up painting in the last few years of her life, and regularly attended screenings of the Bolshoi Ballet at the Cineplex, and matinée performances of the Western Canada Theatre, which she supported as a benefactor.

Above all, Adah was unconditionally devoted to her family. She was immensely proud of her daughters and their families, and was an active, engaged, and loving grandmother with a basement full of toys and crafts – and a listening ear and advice as they got older.
Though she chose to live near Nancy in Canada she often visited Allison’s family in the USA, never missing a graduation, recital, bat mitzvah, wedding, or other special occasion.

Adah died on the morning of December 28, 2018, in the comfort of her home with her daughters by her side at the age of 94, from complications of acute leukemia. She died as she lived, on her own terms, and with dignity.

In addition to her two daughters, Nancy Gruver Van Wagoner (Steve) and Allison Kaplan (David); she leaves her grandchildren Justin Van Wagoner (Gill), Kieran Van Wagoner (Melody), Lee Van Wagoner (Blake), Rebekah Selekman (Josh) and Hannah Lundeen (Bob); great grandchildren Skylah, Sammy, Jonah, Caelum and Frederick; three nieces and one nephew and their families; her cat Buddy; and her extended family of friends.

She will be remembered for her energy, immense generosity and kindness, sharp mind, quick wit and off-beat sense of humour, strength and resilience, and for spending her time of this planet fully engaged with the people and activities that mattered the most to her. Adah looked at life as a continuous meet and greet, and believed that her legacy was in her family which truly included many good friends. Her friends would say that she was their inspiration, but that is only because they were hers. The secret of life, she said, was to “live it,” and that she did – in spades.

A Memorial Celebration of her Life will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 2:00 pm, at the Hal Rogers Activity Centre in Kamloops.

Adah would like to be remembered with memorial contributions to the Kamloops SPCA, or to the Kamloops YMCA-YWCA Strong Kids Campaign. Donations for Strong Kids can be made in person at either the 400 Battle St. or 150 Wood St. locations, or online.

Condolences may be expressed at www.myalternatives.ca

• Date : 2019-01-24
• Location : Kamloops, B.C.