This amazing, beloved and deeply missed lady left us to join her savior Jesus Christ on November 12, 2018.

Eva was born in Bremen, German, on the 10th of January, 1924, the only child to George and Ida Braun. She often reminisced of a small sailboat, her family and the North Sea.

After completing high school in Bremen, she entered into a nursing program in Dresden, Germany. While going to college, she worked at a coffee company, and as a telephone operator for the U.S. Army. After college, she worked as a pediatric nurse while there in Dresden, until World War II ended.

In 1954, she left Germany, to visit Boise, Idaho, and meet friends she had made while working for the Army. While in Boise, she met the man of her dreams, her future husband, Clifford D. Ownbey, and his dear son, Clifford T.

Cliff and Eva were married on July 7, 1955. Cliff was a sergeant in the U.S. Army, and Eva was working at Albertson’s grocery store. After they were married, she left Albertson’s, to follow her husband when he returned to active duty. While stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C., Cliff was injured in a parachuting accident, and transferred to Fort Riley. Kansas, where their daughter, Heidi, was born. Shortly after, Cliff was transferred to North Korea for the Korean War.

Eva and Heidi went back to Idaho to be close to family. After Cliff returned from Korea, he received orders to go to Spokane, Washing-ton, which brought them to Sand-point, Idaho. It was there that Eva met her best friend, Lois Davis.

Eva first began working for the Davises in the 1960s, at the Korner Café and Grocery store. From there employment took her to JCPenny’s, Gino’s Grocery store, and then retirement. Needing to stay busy, she and Lois, and their love for animals, changed thousands and thousands of lives by starting a tiny little thrift store “Friends of the Shelter,” in Sandpoint where all proceeds were donated to start an animal shelter. Today, it is a thriving, self-sufficient shelter and business, and her legacy lives on.

Eva is survived by her devoted husband, Clifford D.; her son, Clifford T, his family, wife Georgia, sons Clay and James, and their families; her daughter, Heidi, her family, husband and caregiver Davin, and children Gabe and Madison; the “Germans”; Jessica; her beloved pets; and her dear friend, Lois.

Please join and share memories in the celebration of life, for Helga “Eva” Ownbey on Saturday Dec. 1, 2018, from noon to 3 p.m., at the Cocolalla Community Hall.

Ich liebe dich!