Grace Edvalson, 99, of Richland, Wash., a former Baker City resident, died July 23, 2007, at the home of her granddaughter, Hope Houck, at Richland.
Her funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Union Ward chapel in Union. Visitations will be from 11 a.m. to noon prior to the service in the cultural hall of the church. Burial will be at the historic Union Cemetery.
Grace was born Nov. 10, 1907, at Cove to Caroline Jensen Halling and Peter Jorgensen Halling. She moved with the family to Union in 1909, where she spent most of her life. She lived in Baker City from 1939 until 1946, when she returned to Union.
She attended the old North School, the South School, and was a 1925 Union High School graduate. She enrolled at the University of Utah in 1927 and went on to graduate from Eastern Oregon Normal School (now Eastern Oregon University) at La Grande in the first graduating class of 1930.
Grace was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in callings in the Primary children’s organization, in the women’s Relief Society organization and in the young women’s organization of the church.
In 1937, she married Herman M. Edvalson in Union at her parent’s home. They were sealed three months later in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was an avid gardener, an excellent cook and a student and teacher of literature and Shakespeare.
Survivors include her children, Karen Hill, and her husband, Robert, of Canoga Park, Calif., Lars Edvalson and his wife, Winona, of Richland, Wash., Kathleen Edvalson Almquist of Union and Anne Thrower and her husband, Rick, of Rockingham, N.C. ; 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Ada Dungan of Orangeville, Calif.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two brothers and four sisters.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Carnegie Public Library in Union or to the Perpetual Education Fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or to Hospice at The Chaplaincy, 2108 W. Entiat Ave, Kennewick, WA 99336.
Express your thoughts and memories in the online Guest Book at www.einansfuneralhome.com.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, July 27, 2007
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor