OLGA PASTUCK ELWOOD,

the radiant light of our family and devoted friend to many, died in Little Rock on Monday, May 3, with her adoring family by her side. She was 97.

Olga was preceded in death by her loving husband of 44 years, Richard Bell Elwood, and is survived by their three children: Janice Mitchell (Jeffrey) of Sarasota, Fla.; Brian Elwood of Little Rock; and Bill Elwood (Debby) of La Quinta, Calif. She also leaves behind seven grandchildren: Jay Mitchell (Andrea) of West Hartford, Conn.; David Mitchell (Katie) of Cottonwood Heights, Utah; Justin Elwood (Terri) of Bentonville; Jordan Elwood of Little Rock; Catherine Elwood Griffin of Beaumont, Texas; Allison Elwood of Denver, Colo.; William Elwood of La Quinta, Calif.; and five great-grandchildren.

Olga Elwood was born Olga Sally Pastuck in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 10, 1923. Her father, Michael Pastuch, and mother, Anna (nee Humeniuk), were born in Ukraine, emigrating to the U.S. through Ellis Island. Michael was a steel pipe-fitter with the local union, and Anna was a housekeeper and later, a proprietor of a popular Cleveland-area tavern.

Olga graduated from Cleveland Heights High School, where she participated in the school symphony orchestra, playing the violin – her father’s, one of two he’d brought with him from Europe; she served as president of the Esperanto Club, senior class editor of the school yearbook, and was a member of the National Honor Society; subsequently, she attended Ohio University as well as Case Western Reserve University. In 1997, she graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) with a Bachelor of Art History degree and minor in English. In 2003, she earned a Masters in Art History. The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and the Playhouse Square Theater in Cleveland were influences in her life.

During World War II, the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts of the Navy Dept. moved to

Cleveland, where Olga was employed as secretary to the Commander in Chief of the Allotment Division. There, she met her future husband, Richard Bell Elwood of Little Rock, who rejoined the Worthen Bank and Trust Co. as Vice President of National Accounts and Correspondent Banking after the war. They had three children: Janice, Brian, and Bill.

Olga served as a Cub Scout, Brownie, and Girl Scout leader when the children were young, and later as a board member of the Ouachita Girl Scout Council. Olave Lady Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide of the Girls Scouts and wife of the founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden-Powell, was a guest in her Robinwood area home when Lady Baden-Powell visited Little Rock in 1966.

Olga Elwood served on the boards of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), as President of the ASO Guild, the Board of the Arkansas Arts Center (now-Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts), and as President of the Fine Arts Club; President of the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock; President of the Aesthetic Club; Board member of the Arkansas Opera Theatre; a member (Treasurer) of the founding Board of public radio station KLRE; a member of WAND (Women’s Actions for New Directions). She was an avid tennis player, a member of the U.S. Tennis Association, and a winner of multiple Arkansas tennis championships.

As a child, she’d studied the violin. Michael, Olga’s beloved father, played the violin and developed her interest. Later, she renewed her studies with violin lessons at UALR, studying with Lin Chang and Meredith Maddox Hicks, and participated in the UALR Community

Orchestra and string quartets. (A few performances of the latter were professional gigs!)

She enjoyed traveling worldwide. She ventured to Europe (France, England, Germany, Italy,

Spain, Hungary, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, and most recently, in 2009, to The Netherlands and Belgium as part of an art history-related tour), China, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Hawaii.

Throughout her life, she found joy in cultural and intellectual pursuits that challenged the mind. She did crossword puzzles for many years, and, in her 80s and 90s, was a near-constant presence on Words with Friends, regularly challenging family, friends and neighbors to word games on her iPad. She always had the latest technology; in her words, she wanted “to be with it” and was.

A lifelong subscriber to The New Yorker and a habitual reader of The New York Times, she sought to better understand the world around her, its history, and life itself.

Olga, our Mother and Grandmother, was the epitome of life. While she had great passion for the arts, music and learning, she loved surrounding herself with people more. She wore a smile constantly, and her hearty laugh came easily. Through her activities at UALR and decades of community involvement, she accumulated friends of all ages; to many, her warmhearted spirit served as a reminder that life is too fleeting for one to be anything but kind. She was and will remain our inspiration.

Olga’s family would like to thank the staff members of Hospice Home Care for their support during these past weeks of Mother’s long and lustrous life. Per her wishes, there will be no service of remembrance. Even so, for anyone who has ever met her, she will be impossible to forget.

Memorials may be made in her honor to the UALR Music Dept. or Art and Design Dept., the

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, or the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.