Evelyn Lucille Cole O'Connor

May 12, 1923-April 28, 2013: MISSOULA – Evelyn was born in Charlo on May 12, 1923, to Ralph Chapman Cole and Violet Josephine McPheeters. Her family later moved to Pablo, where she attended grade school, and then high school in Ronan. She married Earl O'Connor on Feb. 9, 1942.

In 1942, Evelyn and her sister Dorothy moved to Seattle while her husband Earl served in the Army. While there, they both worked at Boeing Aircraft. Because of her small stature, Evelyn was given the job of crawling into the wings of the airplanes and doing the riveting, where she was known as a "Rosie the Riveter."

After Earl was discharged from the Army, they moved to Missoula, where they lived for the rest of their lives, and raised three children. Earl worked at Northern Pacific Railway, and Evelyn was a stay-at-home mom. She and her husband loved to go dancing every chance they got. She worked briefly at The Mercantile department store where she did clothing alterations and was a great seamstress, as evidenced by the fact that she made her daughter Lynn's wedding dress. They were longtime members of the Good Sam camping club, and also loved their time spent camping in Glacier National Park. They were members of the First United Methodist Church, and were also very active in the American Legion locally, of which Evelyn was once president. They also were regulars at both the Missoula and Arlee senior centers.

Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband, Earl; her parents, Ralph and Violet; and four brothers, Robert George Cole, Ralph Ellis "Curly" Cole, Arthur Chapman Cole and Charles Prentice "Chuck" Cole. She is survived by three siblings, Dorothy Cole (Bert) Palmer of Corvallis, Ore., James Jefferson (Lora Houle) Cole of Polson and Frank Wallace (Helen Palmer) Cole of Missoula. She also is survived by three children, daughter Lynn Marie O'Connor Fairbanks of Tekoa, Wash., and sons, Larry Earl O'Connor and Kurt Alan O'Connor, both of Missoula. She has two grandchildren, granddaughter Lisa Marie (Mike) Rossi and their three children Alexander Giovanni Rossi, age 12, and twins Isabella Faith Rossi and Sophia Marie Rossi, age 8, of Spokane, Wash., and grandson Christopher James Fairbanks of Marina del Rey, Calif., as well as many nieces and nephews and their families.

Evelyn had a great sense of humor and was loved by everyone who knew her. She spent her last three years at Rosetta Alzheimer's Care Center, where she was loved by everyone, and especially her caregiver Katelyn Miller.

Funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, May 3, at Garden City Funeral Home, 1705 W. Broadway, Missoula. Interment will follow at Western Montana State Veterans Cemetery at 1911 Tower St., Missoula. Then everyone is also invited to attend the reception and lunch back at Garden City Funeral Home.

Read Evelyn O'Connor's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.