March 22, 1923 – Sept. 17, 2016

Eva was the youngest of three children born to Grace and Alexander Provance in rural Wisconsin. Eva grew up in crushing poverty, her family barely getting by on what little income her father, an itinerant farm laborer, could bring home. Their economic poverty was punctuated by the fact that her older brother had severe cerebral palsy. It was not a happy childhood.

As she grew into adulthood she was painfully shy. She found work as a secretary during WWII, and after the war she and her entire family joined the mass migration to California, settling in Sacramento. There she met and married a charming and handsome man, but her happiness was fleeting. Soon after she gave birth to a son, her emotionally unstable husband committed suicide. Now a single mother, she moved to Los Angeles for a fresh start. On a whim she picked La Crescenta.

In 1972, after years of loneliness, Eva met a passionate Italian man who made her feel special, but even that was to be relatively short. After 20 years of travel, music and romance, cancer took her second husband.

But it was then, right after tragedy, that Eva found her greatest joy in her four beautiful and talented granddaughters, who fortunately lived right next door. Eva spent the last 20 years of her life in constant contact with them, playing with Barbie dolls, teaching them to cook, and being there for all the important events of their childhood and adolescence. To Eva’s granddaughters she was their playmate, their confidant and their role model. It was a beautiful time for Eva, and a great gift to her descendants. After a lifetime of unhappiness and disappointment, Eva was fulfilled.

She spent the last few years of her life being cared for at home by her son and daughter-in-law. In her last two weeks of life, she had the great joy of playing Barbie dolls with her great-granddaughter. She died peacefully in her sleep.

A private memorial is planned. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Mike and Pam Lawler, granddaughters Samantha, Bonnie, Annie and Isabel, and great-granddaughters Sylvia and Fern.