Elaine Camden

CAMDEN — Elaine (Easley), 75; born Dec. 19, 1938, Walla Walla, Wash.; died May 9, 2014, Loma Linda, Calif.

Elaine Easley Camden was born to Daisy and William Easley. 

Many will remember Elaine, a past Pendleton Church member as the young girl who contracted polio at the age of 13. Her lungs, legs, arms and hands were affected. She spent two years in an Iron Lung at St. Mary’s Hospital in Walla Walla and the Portland Sanitarium and Hospital. In spite of her handicap, she learned to walk and to “frog breathe” without a respirator during the day. At night she slept on a “rocking bed” or used a respirator. She wrote with a pencil between her toes and was proficient at typing with her toes. She drove a specially equipped car with her feet.

After some recovery, she graduated from Pendleton High School class of 1958. Later Elaine and her parents moved to Southern California where she graduated from college and completed her law degree at UCLA. She worked for the City of Los Angeles as a Defense Attorney. She argued and won cases before the Appellate Court of Los Angeles.

Elaine will be remembered by many as a huge inspiration. 

She was predeceased by her husband Larry, her parents and her brother Jack. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Carol Easley Johnson, nephews Paul (Cheri), Joe (friend Linda), and Mark (Sandra), her niece, Judy Easley Bradford (Ryan), her caretakers, her cousins, including Blanche Robinson Johnson Cornell and Beryl Mikesell, great nieces, great nephews.