April 16, 1926-July 31, 2003

COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. – Afton Leona Bland, 77, of College Place, Wash., died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Regency at the Park in College Place.

A graveside funeral service will be held at 10 a.m on Wednesday the Pilot Rock Cemetery.

The eldest of eight children, Mrs. Bland was born April 16, 1926, at Lakeview, Utah, to William McKinley and Mary Evangeline VanNorstran Tucker.

In 1946, she married James Alvin Bland. They lived in Utah and Oregon and in 1955 moved to Winnfield, La.

Mrs. Bland moved to Pilot Rock in 1993 to be near family, after the death of her husband, James Alvin Bland, and son, James Alvin Bland Jr.

In 1997, she moved to Walla Walla to be near the dialysis center there and at the time of her death was a resident at Regency at the Park in College Place.

Survivors include her daughter, Edith Leona Bland of Prarie Ville, La.; four grandchildren , six great-grandchildren; sisters, Wilda Hansen of Pilot Rock; Mary Underwood of Renton, Wash.; Myrtle Kohl of La Grande, Patricia Perry of Twin Falls, Idaho, and brother, Daniel L. Tucker of Milton-Freewater.

Burns Mortuary of Pendleton is in charge of arrangements.