Sohpie Michele Dreifuss

Sophie was the beloved wife of Dr. Genghmun Eng for almost 44 years and a well-loved mother of two grown children.  She was a woman of science, compassion, and strength.  She earned a Master's of Science in Geology, in May of 1977, from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where Gengh and Sophie first met.  She then worked for 2 years at Texaco, New Orleans, before moving to California.  She became one of first women to become a California Certified Engineering Geologist (CEG #1156), earning her license in 1982, and then working for over 35 years as a CEG and as a member of the Association of Engineering Geologists (AEG), analyzing ground conditions to mitigate damage to homes from Southern California earthquakes.  In between her Engineering Geology work, she was also very active in the local community, helping to stop a gigantic 75 oil-well project from invading the neighborhood, and helping to stop a Criminal Rehabilitation Center from replacing the local Middle-School.  She also helped many individual family and friends when she could.  For nearly a decade she visited the local elementary school as a guest teacher, giving yearly "Rock Talks” to interest young children about the different kinds of rocks and minerals that can be found all over the world.  She hoped that these "Rock Talks” would inspire a new generation of young Geologists.  These talks were so well liked that she became known as the “Rock Lady”.  Children would ask their teachers when the “Rock Lady” was going to come back to give another presentation.  When she wasn’t marveling at geology, she would often relax by being a prolific hobbyist crafter.   She hand-crocheted over 500 butterfly and flower magnets, raising more than $2500 for the 'Blue Star Mothers of America'.  She also created 4 boxes each year that were filled with her custom handmade Barbie-Doll Clothes.  For over a decade, these boxes were annually donated to 'Cheer for Children' for girls hospitalized over Christmas at the nearby UCLA Hospital.  She also became the Photographer and Historian for the 'Yarn Angels of South Bay' (YASB) craft group in Los Angeles.  During the first months of the global COVID pandemic, she made hundreds of cloth Face-masks for First Responders as part of the YASB response to the pandemic-induced mask shortage.  She also improved the YASB design of 'Port-a-Cath Pillows' and 'Chemo-Infuser Bags', which eased the lives of people undergoing chemotherapy, making and donating many of them over the years, until she was recently and sadly diagnosed with cancer; and then needed one herself.  With a lifelong dedication to Earth Sciences, she wanted her physical body returned to Earth.  In Spirit, she was a hummingbird with a melodic voice; a butterfly whose time here was too short.  She was strong and cheerful to the end, a Saint whose Soul, as they say, "Was Goin' to Heaven with Shoes On.".  She departed this world with a smile on her face.  Watch over us, Dearest Sophie.
        
A small family Memorial Service is planned for around noon on Spring Solstice, March 20, 2023, at Leek & Sons, 1215 W. Bradley Ave., Urbana, IL 60801; (217) 337-5335

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