Reva Oleta Hoewing, deeply loved mother, wife, grandmother and great grandmother and a fixture of the Poolesville, Maryland community for nearly sixty years, passed away in Advance, North Carolina on July 21, 2026. She was ninety-two years old.

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Known affectionately as Mom, Grandma, and Nana, Reva had recently relocated to North Carolina with her devoted husband to live near her daughter and son-in-law.  Born on November 5, 1933, in Wayland, Missouri, to Jesse and Francis Calvert, Reva grew up alongside her older siblings, Doras and Eston.

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Reva’s early childhood was shaped by the resilience of the Greatest Generation.  She vividly recalled her Uncle Bob serving in the Army in Europe and her mother working in factories making rubber plane parts and nylon parachutes to support the war effort.

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Her family eventually settled on Exchange Street in Keokuk, Iowa, where Reva graduated from high school at just 17 years old.  From her youth, Reva was gifted with a beautiful singing voice, a love for drama, and an extraordinary eye for art and crafts. While attending Carthage College in Illinois, her exceptional talent earned her a spot in the prestigious 60-member Carthage College A Cappella Choir, which won consecutive first-place honors and performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

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It was also at Carthage, in September 1951, that Reva met Raymond Hoewing. As Ray fondly tells it, he sat next to Reva at a football game while his current girlfriend marched in the band—but he quickly lost interest in the music after meeting Reva. The two began dating, and on June 8, 1952, they wed. Reva chose to withdraw from college to support the couple while Ray attended graduate school at Princeton.   It was the beginning of a beautiful, enduring marriage that spanned 74 remarkable years.

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After a few moves between Chicago and the Washington, D.C. area, during which Reva balanced raising five children with selling Avon, the couple sought a life in the country. In 1969, they moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, eventually making their home in Poolesville.

Reva first served the community as a teacher’s aide at Poolesville Elementary School, where the children adored her and called her "Mrs. Ho-Ho."

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In 1976, Reva channeled her lifelong passion for creativity into a local business, partnering with a teacher friend Barbara Choate to open "Crafts-A-Plenty."  For 42 years, across several different locations in Poolesville — including her beloved Williams Store building and the Frederick Poole House — Reva ran more than just a retail shop. It became a vibrant community center. She taught generations of youth and adults ceramics, silk flower arranging, macramé, and painting. Local Boy and Girl Scouts, school groups, and church groups flocked to her classes. Even today, countless community members proudly display the Christmas ornaments and ceramics they made with her decades ago.

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Beyond the crafts, the shop was a sanctuary.  Local residents knew Reva always had the time to listen, offering a compassionate, non-judgmental ear to anyone suffering heartbreak or sadness.

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Reva was very active in local affairs, including the PTA, and was a faithful member of the Poolesville Memorial United Methodist Church for over thirty years, where she joyfully sang in the choir.  She also chaired various committees including finance for the Church.

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Reva’s greatest masterpiece, however, was her family.  She was a devoted mother and wife and is survived by her loving husband, Ray, and her five children: Link (Fran), Mark, Becky (Teddy), Tammy (Gary), and Francie (Allen). Her legacy of love and creativity lives on through her 12 grandchildren: Megan, Lauren, Jessie, Rachel, Matt, Sara, Justine, Emily, Jared, Cheyenne, Tara, and Jaclyn; as well as her 28 adored great-grandchildren: Link, Dessie, Owen, Eva, Jack, Olivia, Wesley, Lee, Gabby, Daniel, Izzy, Rosie, Abby, Lucy, Bayden, Camden, Maxden, Kaiden, Noah, Emma, Jaxson, Savannah, Eli, Ivy, Evan, Sadie, River, and Wheeler. She was preceded in death by her parents, Jesse and Francis, her sister Doras, her brother Eston and her granddaughter Tara.

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A memorial service and celebration of Reva's life will be announced by the family in the near future.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Trellis Supportive Care, a non-profit Providing Hospice & Palliative Care at trellissupport.com, or mail a check to: Trellis Supportive Care, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, NC, 27103; or WUMCO Help at wumcohelp.org or via check at WUMCO Help, P.O. Box 247, Poolesville, MD 20837; or Poolesville Memorial  United  Methodist Church at pmumc.org or via check at Poolesville Memorial United Methodist Church, 17821 Elgin Road, Poolesville, MD, 20837.