Olive R. Van Aken
October 26, 1923 – July 1, 2022
A remarkable lady, Olive Ruth Cronk Van Aken, passed away on July 1, 2022 after a short stay in the Margaretville Hospital. Olive, a lifelong resident of Grand Gorge and Roxbury, NY was rooted in the history of the Catskill Mountains. Born on October 26, 1923 to Selleck and Pearl (Kipp) Cronk in Grand Gorge, NY. Her father Selleck ran a dairy farm in the center of town which his father had started, the current site of the NBT Bank. Olive always recalled her pet lamb, Duke, trips to New York City with her father (the farm supplied milk exclusively to Bellevue Hospital) and the guests that came in the summer by train to stay in the “big” house where her mother ran a boarding house. She held onto the Guest Book these many years and enjoyed flipping through those many pages of signatures.
Olive excelled in school and graduated high school at the age of sixteen. She went to work as a teller in the Bank of Grand Gorge (now NBT), worked as a secretary at Greendell Meatpacking Plant in Prattsville, NY. During WWII she volunteered as an airplane spotter and war bond fund raiser. After WWII she met Millard F. Van Aken at a dance in Roxbury, NY. They eloped and were married in Binghamton, NY on October 18, 1945. Olive and Millard raised four children, originally living in Grand Gorge, then moving to Sherrill, NY where Olive worked at the Sherrill Public Library part-time, and was active as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader, mother to three Boy Scouts. In the summer of 1967, the family relocated to Winston-Salem, NC. Olive took a job with Hunter Publishing Company as a copy editor and proof reader. Olive and Millard enjoyed weekend camping trips to the Outer Banks and into the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. They ventured off to Europe, renting a camper van and traveling to the church where Marinus Van Aken was married, the first Van Aken to come to America, then down through Italy where Dad had been during WWII, meeting up with old friends. Olive enjoyed traveling while able and made a trip to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia while in her 80’s.
Olive was a cook, a seamstress, a mother, a quilter, a housewife, a knitter, a Renaissance woman, she had a passion for reading and her biggest regret was not being able to read every book in the Library of Congress. She spent hours walking through cemeteries, reading tombstones, filling in the gaps of family lineages, the family genealogist her entire life. Olive enjoyed playing pinochle, painting, trying her hand at handmade crafts. She enjoyed exploring antique stores and used book stores looking for oddities to add to her collections. Olive had a great appreciation for nature, art, music (except Bob Dylan’ “he can’t sing”), opera and found much joy in listening to her vast collection of old 78’s.
After Millard retired from Western Electric they moved back to Roxbury, NY where they enjoyed their time back home in the mountains.
Olive is predeceased by her daughter Mary, her husband Millard and her oldest son, Alan. Olive is survived by sons Kipp Cronk Van Aken of Gilboa, NY and John M. Van Aken and wife Elisa of Hampton Bays, NY. Her beloved companion of many years, her cat Tyger. Her nieces Nancy and Barbara, nephew Peter. Step-grandson, Cameron Hart. She is also survived by Alan’s wife, Teresita Van Aken of Piti, Guam, her grandchildren Kimberly Van Aken Sheppard and Arron Van Aken, great grandchildren Sampson, Jessica, India, Sierra, Arron Jr., Destiny.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, July 14th at 11 AM at the Jay Gould Memorial Church with the Reverend Richard Dykstra officiating. Interment to follow with a reception afterwards in the Carriage House by the church.
Expressions of sympathy in Olive’s memory can be made to the Roxbury, NY Public Library; the “Building Fund” of the Jay Gould Memorial Church and the Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department EMS unit.
Special thanks to the staff and nurses at the Margaretville Hospital, Dr. Khurram Farooq, for their concerned care and compassion in attending to our mother in her final days.
Funeral arrangements are being provided through Miller Funeral Home in Roxbury, NY.