Eleanor Edvalson Mowrey passed away in her home, surrounded by loved ones, on Sunday, April 7, 2024.
She was born at home to Ivy Worley and Rulon Richard Edvalson in Union, Oregon, part of eastern Oregon’s beautiful Grande Ronde Valley, on April 14, 1940. She graduated from Union High School in 1958, and attended Eastern Oregon College, where she played flute in the school’s band. During a northern tour with the band to Seattle and Canada, she decided that it would be wonderful to work and live in the “big city”. Shortly thereafter, and with the help of her uncle, Jay Cherry, she moved to Seattle, where she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank downtown and lived on Queen Anne for a few years.
While living in Seattle, she met her future husband, Kenneth Baker Mowrey, and they married on August 7, 1961, in the Idaho Falls temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Within months after marrying, Ken and Eleanor moved to a small house in Bothell, Washington, which they established as their loving and welcoming home.
By early 1962, Eleanor had settled into her dream job and lifelong occupation, devotion, and passion as a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, teacher, devoted friend to everyone, and expert craftsperson. She found great joy in teaching children in church primary classes, which she did expertly for dozens of years. It was her greatest desire to make each child feel loved and special and she devoted herself to the task. Part of her life’s work also included several years designing and hand-crafting beautiful articles of clothing for award winning porcelain “people” (or dolls). She practiced and perfected all types of sewing, needlework, and knitting. She also enjoyed photography, woodworking, and many other crafts. She read good books and enjoyed her book club immensely, her favorite authors included Pearl S. Buck and Nevil Shute.
Most of all, she loved. Eleanor loved each member of her family, and she cast that net very wide, to include many friends and acquaintances. If you knew her, chances are she thoughtfully created something at some time for you (a wool hat, a pair of socks, a doll with doll clothes, a sweater, a scarf, a stuffed animal, a quilt, a handmade bag full of candy, a colorful knitted ball, etc.). And, if she made it for you, you probably kept it because it was so neat, and now it is a treasure.
Ken and Eleanor never moved from their first Bothell home – living there together for 55 years before Ken’s passing in 2016. Eleanor continued to welcome family, her book club, and friends over to watch movies to that same home for the remainder of her 63 years there.
Eleanor was preceded in death by her parents, Rulon and Ivy, her husband, Kenneth, and her brother Marvin. She is survived by her siblings, Alice, Eileen, Wayne, and Nadine, and her children, Esther Lynn Lawrence (Tadd), Ruth Lea Bastian, Mark Baker Mowrey (Tammy), and Joan Kay Sramek (Jon); twelve grandchildren: Brad, Ben, Chalea, Austin, Brandon, Carmen, Reed, Isaac, Carl, Grant, Madelyn, and Miranda; and eleven great-grandchildren: Blakelyn, Joshua, Claire, Jonah, Mason, Dylan, Kaia, Asher, August, Bentley, and Carter.
The family expresses deep gratitude to all who have been part of Eleanor’s life. Since Ken’s passing, many have provided rides, and many have come to visit to sit and enjoy companionship. She loves you all.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 20th at 11:00 AM, at the Bothell building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 19215 88th Ave NE, Bothell, WA. Her interment will happen the day before, Friday, April 19th at 10:00 AM, at Tahoma National Cemetery
The post first appeared on Barton Family Funeral Service.