Elaine A. Walla, age 99, of Blue Bell, PA, passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at Arcadia at Limerick Pointe, Limerick, PA.

She was born in North Bend, Nebraska on March 24, 1927, the daughter of the late Marion J. and Oleita A. (Johnson) Kern. She was the only student in her entire grade in a one-room schoolhouse on a far corner of the 240-acre Kern farmstead. After 8th grade, she attended high school in North Bend, followed by a year at Midland College in Fremont, Nebraska. Farming, always a difficult occupation, was becoming unhealthy for her father, so Elaine’s family moved to Lincoln, the Nebraska state capital, in the mid-1940s, and entrusted the farm to the management of her Uncle Hank. The Kern farm was lovingly cultivated by Elaine’s family from the 1860s until it was sold in January 2006.

And now for the romantic part. A friend introduced Elaine to Anton L (Tony) Walla, a fellow farm kid who was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska. By the time Tony graduated from college and became a US Navy pilot, they planned to marry. In the early 1950s, an interfaith marriage (Protestant and Catholic) was a bit of a scandal. Undeterred, Elaine threw caution to the wind and hopped on a bus to Pensacola, Florida, where Tony was stationed. They eloped to Mobile, Alabama, where they were married on August 8, 1952, and they never parted until Tony died in 1989.

After Tony left the Navy, they lived for a few years in Mason, Ohio, before settling in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and raising their five children. When Tony started a business preparing taxes, Elaine agreed to type “a couple of tax returns” just to help him out. This quickly became a full-time job every winter for over 20 years until, thankfully, computers took over the task.

A resident of Blue Bell for 63 years, Elaine was a member of the former Asbury United Methodist Church of Norristown until its closing. She then became a faithful member of Chalfont United Methodist Church. An avid fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, Elaine attended games as a season ticket holder until she was 95.

Her favorite activities were shopping, watching her soap operas, reading, and travel. She especially loved returning “home” to Nebraska to visit her cousins and extended family.

She is survived by her son, Michael Walla of Columbia, SC; daughter, Marlene (Erich) Miller of Columbus, IN; daughter, Susan Walla (Robert Spiller) of Chalfont, PA; son, James (Rose) Walla of West Chester, PA; and daughter, Karen Walla (Thomas Heiser, Jr.) of Gilbertsville, PA. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Rachel Walla, Jennette (Matthew) Beyer, Lisa Spiller, Toni Spiller, Karissa Miller and Thomas Heiser III; and two great grandchildren, Emma and Cameron.

Along with her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Kenneth and John Kern.

Her funeral service will be held on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 10:30 AM from the Moore, Snear & Ruggiero Funeral Home, 300 Fayette Street, Conshohocken, PA 19428. Relatives and friends are invited to the viewing on Wednesday morning from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM at the funeral home.

Interment will take place in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, PA.

Memorial contributions may be made in her name to: Chalfont United Methodist Church, 11 Meadowbrook Lane, Chalfont, PA 18914. 

Arrangements by Moore, Snear & Ruggiero Funeral Home & Crematory of Conshohocken, 610-828-0330 www.msrfh.com