CONRAD — Eva Marie Falla, 88, who farmed north of Inverness with her husband and worked in the school cafeteria, died Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2001, at her home in Conrad.

A vigil service and a funeral mass were held at St. Michael Catholic Church in Conrad. Interment was in the Highland Cemetery in Havre.

Eva was born March 20, 1913, in Berwick, N.D., to Julianna and Anton Schwan. She moved with her parents to Montana in 1914 to homestead at Goldstone. Eva attended school in the Goldstone Community until the eighth grade. In those early years, the Schwan family belonged to the St. Wenceslaus Church of Goldstone, where Eva received her first communion. She was also confirmed at St. Wenceslaus.

In 1931, Eva moved to Havre, where she was employed at the Sacred Heart Hospital. She then married J. Maurice Falla on Oct. 19, 1936. They farmed north of Inverness, where Eva enjoyed gardening and sewing. She learned to sew on her mother's treadle sewing machine and became the family seamstress. Some years later, her husband surprised her with an electric Singer sewing machine, which she really enjoyed. Besides her love of sewing, Eva was a great cook and loved to bake.

In the fall of 1945, they bought a house in Inverness so the children could attend school. The family always moved back to the farm during the summer months. When all five of her children were in school, Eva started working at the school in the cafeteria. She did this for 20 years. The house in Inverness had a big yard and Eva and Maurice like to plant flowers and care for the yard. The grandchildren would love to help Eva pick the flowers and each one would go home with a bouquet. During the summer, tourists would stop at the house, thinking it was the town park.

By 1976, both Eva and Maurice had retired. In 1978, they sold the house in Inverness and moved to Conrad. Eva found that the new house was wonderful, but the flower beds were smaller than the ones in Inverness, so she turned to her love of sewing and started making quilts. Instead of bouquets of flowers, grandchildren and great-grandchildren received quilts.

Eva was also a shutterbug. She loved to take pictures with her little Brownie camera that she always carried with her. She put her many pictures into photo albums that everyone enjoyed.

Eva was preceded in death by her husband, parents, eight siblings, one granddaughter, and two great-grandsons.

Survivors include her children, Beverly Moog of Inverness, John Falla of Federal Way, Wash., Julia White of Grandbury, Texas, Eddie Falla of Conrad, and Tom Falla of Sacramento, Calif.; 23 grandchildren; sisters, Julia Schwan of Havre, Pauline Laeupple of Havre, Aggie Sherman of Ronan, Theresa Houim of Spokane, Wash.; brothers, Frank Schwan of Lothair and Paul Schwan of Havre; 41 great-grandchildren