Evelyn (Hurst) Russell, 93

Evelyn Russell ended her long life at Sandpoint's Life Care Center, and joined her late husband, James, in heaven on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004.

Born as Laura Evelyn Hurst on Sept. 11, 1911 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.,, to Benjamin Hurst and Laura Fancey, she blessed everyone she met in her life with her grace and beauty.

She was born totally deaf, and attended the Wright Oral School for the Deaf in New York City where she learned to lip read and vocalize in order to communicate with her hearing family as well as learning to sign with her deaf friends.

Evelyn graduated in 1928 at the start of the Great Depression, met the love of her life, James Russell, during that period, and they married in 1939.

She lived most of her life on New York's Long Island in the town of Massapequa and raised three boys, James Jr., Donald and Edward.

After her husband's death in 1993, she moved to Sandpoint in 1998 for the final years of her life.

She will be greatly missed by her sons, Jim Jr. of Sagle/Bottle Bay, Don of Stamford, Conn., and Ed of King of Prussia, Pa.; grandsons, Patrick, Colin and Michael of Pa.; and daughter-in-law, Kelly. Her husband, James; and brother, William; preceded her in death.

End-of-life arrangements are being done by Lakeview Funeral Home, Sandpoint, with final internment at Pinelawn Memorial Gardens in Bethpage, N.Y.