Evan (Johnson), E. Elaine age 81 of Golden Valley, MN left us for heaven on July 16, 2019. Elaine was born on a dairy farm in northwestern Wisconsin. She went to Bethel University, earned a degree in teaching and met her husband, Paul, there. Paul became a pastor and by default, Elaine a pastor's wife. She embraced that role with passion infusing it with her gift of building relationships with people. Their career together began in Forest City, Iowa where their daughter Karin was born. Next they moved to Bellevue, Washington where their son David was born. In Bellevue, she taught middle school English and Social Studies. They returned to Minnesota, living in Minnetonka for 20 years where Paul was pastor of Minnetonka Baptist Church. Elaine continued loving parishioners alongside Paul but also worked in the Title One program in the Minnetonka School District, worked as Coordinator for the Senior to Senior program, wrote articles for the Minnetonka Sun newspaper, and taught as a substitute teacher. The next step of their journey took them to Avon, Connecticut where Paul was pastor at Valley Community Baptist Church and Elaine worked as editor and support staff for the Cornelia de Lange Foundation. After Paul died, Elaine again returned to Minnesota and completed her career as a Communication Specialist for the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Bethel University. Elaine was always ready for travel and adventure; big or small. Her adventures included a visit to Czechoslovakia with Paul and his family to connect with Paul's Slovak family, several trips to Scandinavia to visit her relatives, traveling to England as part of the Friendship Force, and riding on the back of her son David's motorcycle. Elaine had incredible grace and tenacity even in the face of many challenges and losses she faced in her life. She lost her husband Paul, 25 years ago of pancreas cancer. She lived with cerebellar ataxia for almost 30 years. Cerebellar ataxia is a progressive neurologic condition that impacts fine control of her voluntary muscle movements; balance, walking, speaking and movement of arms and legs. As a result she fell many times, breaking assorted bones. Despite her strength and determination in physical therapy, many years ago she lost her ability to walk with her walker and used a wheelchair exclusively to scoot around. And scoot around she did! And in the last several years, her memory began playing tricks on her. Despite all this, her greatest gift and strength, her love of people, continued to shine. She loved people but more importantly had a beautiful, genuine ability to make people feel loved. Elaine is survived by her brother Ron Johnson (Sue), daughter Karin Evan Westgate (Craig) and son David Evan (Susie), Grandchildren Tori and Reggie Westgate and Allie and Erika Evan. She is preceded in death by her loving husband Paul and parents Fred and Edith Johnson. Memorial Service to be held on August 10, 2019 at 11AM at the Fellowship Center at Covenant Living, Golden Valley, 5800 St. Croix Avenue, Golden Valley, MN 55422. Memorial gifts can be made to Bethel University, CGCS Scholarships. Gifts can be made on-line at bethel.edu/giving/donate/…. Under "I'd like my gift to support," click "Other" and put CGCS Scholarship, in "Comments" put "In memory of Elaine Evan." Or, Checks payable to "Bethel University" with Note: "In memory of Elaine Evan." Mail to: Bethel University, Office of Development, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112.