Eldora Marion Landman (Haug)

After a beautiful life filled with light and love, on New Year’s Day, 2022, Eldora Landman left this life to join with her beloved Leland and all the heavenly hosts in the great and eternal river of love. After a brief illness, she passed away peacefully in her home of more than fifty years in Missoula at 102 years of age.


Eldora was born July 5, 1919, to Thorval and Lottie (Dromness) Haug, on their farm south of Scobey, Montana. After graduating from High School in Scobey, she worked in the County courthouse, them moved with girlfriends to Spokane, where she worked as a stenographer. There she met and was courted by Leland (Lee) Landman, a handsome Army Air Corps Tech Sergeant from Vermont. As the war approached, Eldora joined the Women’s Army Air Corps, trained as a radio operator, and was stationed at Miami Beach, listening to German ship and submarines and transcribing the Morse Code they used. Lee went to Blythe, California, training to go to Egypt. She and Lee continued to court through letters and train trips across the country. Finally, they were married in Los Angeles on May 1, 1944. Lee shipped out to Egypt and Eldora returned to Miami.


When the war was over, Eldora and Lee made their lives together, eventually returning to Scobey, where their first daughter, Judy was born. Lee then went to college on the GI Bill in Bozeman, where their son Charles was born. After Lee graduated from college, they lived for a few years in North Dakota, where daughters Jane and Joanne were born, and then moved to Sandpoint , Idaho, where Leland was the Kaniksu National Forest Engineer and their daughter Janet was born. Moving from the parched plains of North Dakota to the lakes, mountains and lush forests of North Idaho felt like heaven to them all! Lee became Assistant Regional Forester and they moved to Missoula in 1967, to their house in Target Range. Eldora and Lee were truly bound together through their family, their church, and their love of the Atlanta Braves, among others. After Lee died in 1992; Eldora lived on in their home with a rich and full life, much of it on her own, with the help of her family and many friends.


Everywhere they lived, and throughout her life, Eldora cared for her family, her community, and the world around her. She was a lifelong Lutheran, a church of compassion and service (and potluck suppers!). She was active in her church wherever they lived, and she lived those values in her life. She and Lee were always helping others, and their kindness flowed to whomever came their way, many people in need, and also the many animals she knew and loved. She took great joy in the simple pleasures of feeding and watching the birds, squirrels, and deer in her back yard for many years. She managed outreach to the needy for Atonement Lutheran Church in Missoula for decades, and was a Girl Scout leader, trainer, and organizer for more than fifty years. She loved camping - she camped at Larry Creek with her Girl Scouts for many years - and instilled that love in her children.


Eldora showered love on her children and, when they came along, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She never forgot birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries, and delighted in family gatherings of all kinds. She had a way of connecting with people she met, especially though her many years as an active member of Atonement Lutheran, and many have said “I am better off for knowing her.” She had a large circle of friends, and even as she aged, drew new people to her with her kindness. Her life was remarkable not so much for what she did - although there is much to admire - but for who she was, someone who truly lived the command of Jesus to “love one another as I have loved you.”


She will be missed, and remembered with love, by her children Judy, Charles, Jane, Joanne, and Janet; her ten grandchildren, Jeanna, Kevin, Austin, Joshua, Gabriel, Peter, Jordan, Alex, Isaac, and Evan; her four great grandchildren and great great grandson.