Walla, Belva M.
January 27, 1918 – April 13, 2012. Belva M. Walla (nee Nerlien) was born January 27, 1918, to Ole and Emilie Nerlien, in the town of New Hope, Portage County, Wisconsin. She graduated from Rosholt (WI) High School in 1934, and from St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota in 1938. After eight years of teaching Latin and mathematics in Wisconsin, she served for fifteen years as a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Colombia, South America. Belva and her mother lived in Iola, WI when she resumed her teaching career in junior and senior high school in Amherst, Wisconsin Rapids, and Stevens Point until her retirement in 1980. Her mother died in 1976; her father had passed away in 1956. Always a missionary at heart, Belva volunteered on the staff of BALL World Missions in Hillsboro, MO, from 1980 until 1996, when she married Reverend Joseph L. Walla and moved to Spokane, WA. Belva is survived by her husband, Joseph, a sister, Effie O. Krogwold of Spooner, WI, and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service for Belva was held on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 2:00 PM at Zion Lutheran Church, 8304 E. Buckeye Ave, Millwood, WA.