Eva Ann (Aguiar) Oliveria, 95

Eva Ann (Aguiar) Oliveria filled many roles in her 95 years.

She was the third child of two poor Portuguese immigrants from the Azores island of Sao Jorge.

She was the faithful partner of a hard-working dairyman who was taken from her too soon.

As a girl — who was 100 percent of Portuguese descent, according to Ancestry.com — she flunked first grade because she couldn’t speak English. She would become a mother who doggedly guided the education and spiritual development of six independent-minded children.

With her husband, Franklin, she was a leader in Portuguese communities in northern California. She was a Youth with A Mission missionary. She was a friend to the Blackfeet Tribe of Browning, Mont.

She was a defender of the underdog. A prayer warrior. A matriarch of Hayden Bible Church.

But most of all she was “Grandma Mo” to her family and friends, a woman of virtue who loved unconditionally, prayed continually, served others, and modeled what it meant to follow Jesus.

Eva was born on June 23, 1925, to Manuel and Mariana Aguiar in French Camp, Calif. And she passed away Friday night, Feb. 5, after almost five years of quality care from Coeur d’Alene Life Care.

During the Depression, on April 30, 1931, Eva was 5 when her father died of pneumonia. Her widowed mother, who didn’t speak English, was left with three children 8 and under. Social workers wanted to send the children to foster homes. But Eva’s older half-brother, John DeMello, then 21, kept the family intact by returning home to become its head. Eva viewed “Johnny” as her second father.

On July 31, 1944, in Reno, Nevada, Eva married Franklin Simas Oliveria, a dairyman whose Portuguese parents had immigrated from another Azores island, Faial. For the next 22 years, Eva helped her husband with dairy work. She cooked for farm hands, drove hay trucks, and worked at canneries to make ends meet, all while raising six children.

In 1958, Eva was standing at her kitchen sink, pregnant with her sixth child, when she almost suffered a nervous breakdown due to the crush of dairy and family responsibilities. She said she felt as though she was drowning. She thought of her wedding day. Then, God gave her the words to a song that she later set to music. She named it, “Unshaken Love.” The song healed her. It begins:

“No wedding gown, no bridesmaids/To escort me down the aisle,/No friends and no relations/To shed a tear or smile./No bride’s bouquet did I receive/No photographs were taken,/But God gave to you and me/A love that can’t be shaken.”

On Oct. 19, 1976, Franklin, age 55 and Eva’s husband of 32 years, was killed in a vehicle accident caused by another driver. Eva was 51. She forgave the careless driver. And began the rest of her life – 44 years – as a productive widow. She never dated afterward. She told her children: “I wasn’t interested in anyone else because I knew I could never find a man as good as your father.”

Eva was working at the Army Depot in Tracy, Calif., when the fatal crash occurred. She continued to do so. She also completed her schooling for a diploma from Manteca High (Calif.) World War II had interrupted her original high school education.

Eva wrote letters to the editor. She became involved in local politics. She was a cook for Youth with A Mission in Hawaii. She loved picking out cards for family and friends. Her memories and journals has helped her family preserve its history.

In 1990, she followed a family migration from central California to Kalispell, Mont., which began in 1977 when oldest son, David, became an editor of the town newspaper, The Daily Inter Lake. Later, she and friend Mary Sierra would pack clothes and shoes into “God’s Pickup” — Eva’s name for her 1984 Crown Victoria — and drive 101 miles to the Blackfeet Reservation to donate the goods to needy people.

In 2003, Eva moved to Coeur d’Alene to join three of her kids and serve at Hayden Bible Church.

All six children survive her: Eileen (and the late Richard) Harrison of Costa Mesa, Calif. David (and Brenda) Oliveria of Coeur d’Alene; Charlotte (and Roy) Mitchell of Athol; Lillian (and Michael) Bynum of Ripon, Calif.; Edward (and Judi) Oliveria of Manteca, Calif.; and Raymond (and Lisa) Oliveria of Coeur d’Alene. Also, 13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild survive her.

A private service was held this week at Yates Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held Thursday, Feb. 18, at St. John’s Cemetery in Escalon, Calif., where Eva will be interred next to her husband.