Austintown woman leads flourishing life
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AUSTINTOWN -- Eva "Bunny" Pavlov is rarely seen just sitting around. She keeps busy growing and maintaining flowers, raising funds for the Holborn Herb Growers Guild and judging classic automobiles.
Eva was born in Chicago on Easter Day and was thus nicknamed Bunny. She spent her first 12 years of life in an apartment complex near the shores of Lake Michigan. It was during that time she gained notoriety for her green thumb at the complex.
"We had areas we called prairies, or what Ohioans would call yards," she said. "I wanted grass, so I took one (yard) and grew grass and planted flowers. Everyone in the complex knew not to bother the little girl's lawn and garden."
At age 13, Bunny's parents moved to the West Side of Youngstown, leaving the Windy City behind. She attended Chaney High School and graduated in 1959.
During her time in high school, she worked part-time at Higley Florist in Youngstown.
"I remember when men came in to buy flowers for their wives. I would often try to sell him the most expensive ones," she confessed.
After graduation, she worked for Republic Steel's shipping department in Youngstown. She married and had three daughters. The marriage didn't work out, and it left her with three children to care for as a single mother. In 1978, she married John Pavlov and together they raised the family in Austintown.
In those early years, she was serving as a Girl Scout leader. She knew the importance of taking a break and developed a daily camp that mothers with girls in the troop could take turns running the camp.
"It gave us moms a needed break," she said.
Bunny served close to 20 years as a Girl Scout leader and three of those years she spent as summer camp supervisor at Girl Scout Camp Millwood, off Gault Road.
Bunny was always one to keep busy, and little did she know what was coming down the pike when she enrolled in a craft class at Austintown Park. It was during the class she was asked to join the Holborn Herb Growers Guild.
"It was 1996 when I joined the HHGG," she said. "I am not a master gardener, I just wanted to learn more."
Since joining, she has learned more about herbs and plants in general. She has served as HHGG president three times and has taken on a garden at the Western Reserve Village on the Canfield Fairgrounds.
"At first I started with the School House gardens, and later moved to the Gazebo's Formal Gardens," Bunny said. "It has become a real challenge."
The formal gardens have hedges to maintain and carefully-placed interior plants that are copied in each quadrant of the garden.
The gardens have to be weeded, mulched and hedges trimmed on a regular basis to maintain the formal look. Bunny said it takes a lot of work, but with husband John, the task gets done.
"I believe that couples who do things together, stay together," Bunny said.
Bunny and John have shared the last 43 years together as proof. Bunny takes that idea to heart and enjoys John's company in working the gardens. She also joins John in one of his passions as well.
John, who retired from General Motors, loves showing cars. He has several vintage vehicles, including a 1963 Chevrolet SS. Bunny attends shows with John and has taken it one step further.
"I did what it took to become a licensed, certified AACA (Antique Automobile Club of America) master judge," Bunny said. "I can judge car shows anywhere in the country."
She has to get recertified each year, but said she enjoys it and it gives her something to do at the car shows.
She also drives a 1996 Chevrolet SS that officially became a classic this year.
At present, Bunny enjoys all her passions and her potted gardens at home, but she is gearing up for one more involvement that takes time and work. She is getting ready for the HHGG's annual tea that helps raise funds to provide plants, and for the maintenance of the gardens at the Fairgrounds and at Boardman Park.
This year's tea will be 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Hay and Grain Building at the Fairgrounds. Bunny is working to promote the tea and will be ramping things up after the Canfield Fair. During the fair, she will be among the guild members set up at the historic village to share their knowledge of gardening with fairgoers.
With all she has going on, Bunny still likes to stay away from the spotlight.
"I am actually a quiet person," she said.
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