Lula Hula

Lula Ness Hula, 91, passed away Oct. 19, 2014, at Brendan House in Kalispell.

She was born in Kalispell in 1922 to Olaf and Emma Annis Ness. She attended school in Whitefish and Flathead Valley Community College. She married Edward J Hula, in July 1941.

She was raised between Columbia Falls and Whitefish. The daughter of a logger, she was the wife to a charismatic husband, mother to four strong-willed children, and “Grammy” of nine.  

Lu went to school in Whitefish, often riding the wagon into town to sell and buy what was needed. It wasn’t a cushy childhood but it was a loving one, with four brothers and three sisters to keep her company.  

She met her husband of 64 years at a dance in Columbia Falls, when she was 14 and he was 15. “That guy’s name is Ed Hula,” she was told. “If you two got married, you would be Lula Hula.” They married in the spring of her 18th year when Ed was home on leave.

Lula was at home in the woods, a strong Norwegian woman, proud and tall. Building a home with her husband, winning land with words and then building a cabin, too. Her greatest joys were going for firewood and foraging for huckleberries, camping, fishing and driving around the valley, never taking for granted the majesty of her Montana home.

She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brothers and sisters.  

Lula is survived by her son Ed and his wife Joan; daughters Barbara Wallace and husband Jim, Bonnie Wilson and husband Jim, and Marna VanLoo and husband Ron; along with grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.

A memorial service for Lula will take place at Columbia Mortuary, 1010 Fourth Avenue West, in Columbia Falls, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014, at 11:30 a.m. An urn burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery.