Eva May Pursley

Her family home grew with her mother bearing three more children, siblings: Alice, Robert, and Levina. Eva often recalled her years growing up on the family homestead. One of her most cherished memories was a large group of trees in a hollow just down the mountain from their home. It instilled her with a deep love of trees and spending time in the woods.

The family moved to Greenleaf, Idaho while Eva was a sophomore in Greenleaf high school

Eva came back out to Oregon and stayed with her Aunt Esther while working at Bird’s Eye Cannery in Hillsboro. After graduating from Greenleaf High School, she set her eyes on returning to Oregon to enroll at George Fox College in Newberg.

While in college she met and fell in love with Robert “Bob” Pursley, a returning World War 2 navy veteran. They married on December 30, 1949, at Newberg Friends Church; a marriage lasting 64 years until his passing in 2014.

Their first child, Gloria, was born in Portland, Oregon. In 1953, they moved to Hillsboro, Oregon to help establish a Friends Church.

In 1955 she gave birth to her 2nd child, Gary and in 1958, she gave birth to her last child, Vernon. They enjoyed a home on Maple Street for the next 23 years. The home was a short walk to the city swimming pool where Eva was diligent in making sure her children all learned how to swim. In the 1960s-70s, many family trips were taken to Netarts, OR for the good clam tides over the summer months. She and Bob often hosted trips made out to Oregon by her parents. One such trip included a week camping in Eastern Oregon while exploring Succor Creek and finding petrified wood, mountain agates, and thunder eggs. One of her favorite memories she often reflected on was to fly her parents, who had never flown, out to Oregon from Idaho, then surprise them with a trip to Canada to visit Victoria.

During several years of deer hunting, Eva accompanied her husband and took pride in harvesting her own deer with her own gun.

After being a homemaker for many years, she opted to go to work for Tektronix in Beaverton where she excelled in her position as a technician, retiring in 1986.

Eva and Bob would venture farther from home and enjoyed camping in more remote areas, such as along the Metolius River or camping out at Kah-Ne-Tah Hot Springs. They bought a new home in Hillsboro in 1976 where they would live out the rest of their lives. Eva enjoyed working in the yard, planting trees and her favorite flowers.

Eva was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her sisters Alice Clark of Greshem and Levina Lawson of Dundee and her daughter Gloria Long of Anaheim, CA. She is survived by her sons Gary Pursley and Vern Pursley, 10 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, 1 great-great grandchild and her brother H. Robert Hodson of Newberg, OR.

In lieu of flowers, gifts, or remembrances, the family would ask that you plant trees in her memory, due to her love of them throughout her life.

Eva Pursley is in the care of Skyline Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home in Portland, Oregon.