Eva Pearl Douglas was born June 12, 1917 in Barnes, Kansas, the youngest of six children, to John Franklin Douglas and Virginia Sarah Harker Douglas. In the spring of 1922, Eva, with her family, moved to Bonners Ferry, Idaho in the northern most part of the state near the Canadian border. There she lived in a three bedroom house with no indoor plumbing and no place to sleep except on the sofa in the living room. She soon learned how to dress and undress under the covers to insure her privacy. Eva inherited her love of sewing, quilting, cooking and gardening from her mother at an early age. She also loved to read, play games and do puzzles, and was an ‘A’ student throughout her 12 years of school. One of her playmates was her niece, Bonnie, her oldest brother’s daughter, who was close to her age.
While in High School Eva began dating Earle Whitbeck, a farm boy who was also a good student. He loved to play tennis and they played together often. Her best friend, Veda, was dating Earle’s older brother, Bert, and they often double dated. Earle graduated from high school and left to attend Seattle Pacific College in Seattle, WA. He had to leave college at the beginning of his sophomore year, as his father passed away and he was needed at home to help run the farm. Earle and Eva began seeing each other again and were married on March 19, 1941. In the next six years they had four children:
Joan Carole, David LeRoy, Steven Earle and Philip Eldon. They were active in the Bonners Ferry Free Methodist Church.
For the first five years of their marriage Earle and Eva lived in a two-room log cabin on his mother’s farm. Eva had her hands full raising her four kids, tending a large garden, canning fruits and vegetables for the cold winter months, and making her children’s clothes from hand-me-downs. In the summer of 1948 they moved to eastern Washington to the small town of Rockford where Earle managed a grain elevator for three years. There Eva enjoyed having indoor plumbing and cooking on an electric stove. But they missed the farm, so three years later they moved back to Bonners, where they leased a farm just a few miles from Earle’s mother’s home. Unfortunately their farmland bordered the Kootenai River which often flooded. That meant losing their crops for the year. In 1957 they gave up farming and moved to Tacoma, WA where Earle got a job working at Boeing in Seattle. Eva adjusted to raising teenagers in what seemed like a very big city to a country girl. They were active in the McKinley Park Free Methodist Church. They sang in the choir and worked with the youth.
After working at Boeing for 13 years, Earle was laid off at age 55. He decided to go into full time Christian ministry. He was ordained at age 60 and Eva became a pastor’s wife. They were on staff at the Bremerton Church of the Nazarene for a few years then moved to the Renton Church of the Nazarene for several years where they primarily worked with senior adults. They retired when Earle was 75, shortly after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The church gave them a big send off and Eva was able to realize a long-time dream ‘ a trip to Hawaii. Earle took along his tennis racket.
After living in Boise, ID for three years near relatives there, they moved into a mother-in-law apartment in their daughter, Carole’s home in Kenmore, WA. While Earle played tennis and went to the library regularly, Eva and Carole enjoyed shopping, decorating, sewing, quilting and yard work. Eva ended up doing most of the cooking for the four of them. She also enjoyed being near her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They were active in the Kirkland Church of the Nazarene where Earle co-taught the Senior Adults’ Sunday School class. After Chuck retired from Boeing in 2003, he and Carole moved to Sedro-Woolley. Earle and Eva lived in their own apartment for awhile until their health began to fail. After living with their granddaughter, Melinda Coglas and her family for a few months, they finally moved into the Country Meadow Village Assisted Living complex in Sedro-Woolley. Earle passed away in July 2006 at age 90. Eva passed away on May 6, 2009 from heart and kidney failure after a two week illness. She had just finished a set of quilts for her twin beds. She would have been 92 on June 12th.
Eva was preceded in death by her three brothers, Ted, Jim and Myrle Douglas; her sisters, Stella Tillman and Goldie Johnson and her husband, Earle Whitbeck. They celebrated 65 years of marriage before his death. She is survived by her children, Carole Vick of Sedro-Woolley, WA, Dave Whitbeck of Dallas, OR and Steve and Phil Whitbeck, both of Salem, OR; eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Burial was at Mountain View Cemetery in Tacoma, WA on Monday, May 11, 2009. Arrangements under direction of Lemley Chapel, Sedro-Woolley.
