Eva Masin Prather went missing after leaving her home in Missoula in the early hours of December 30, 2023.
Authorities announced last week that remains found in the Clark Fork River on October 13, were those of Prather.
At the time of her disappearance, Prather was said to be having a mental health crisis.
"That's a way that we can honor Eva too is by doing more work to address mental health in our culture and find ways to provide resources, more dynamic, diverse resources for people in our community," Danielle Lattuga, a friend who lived near Prather when she lived in St. Ignatius, told MTN.
Before her disappearance, however, the 43-year-old was an avid botanist and loved ones say she was incredibly compassionate.
"We went to Nine Pipes pretty soon after I moved here. We drove the back roads out there and I remember thinking how slowly she was driving the whole way out there, just winding, we were just chatting and just winding through the roads. I think one of the reasons why I love that memory of hers because it was really indicative of just her presence and her connection with the natural world and the pace at which she moved in life," Lattuga shared.
Family and friends remember her, above anything else, as being a kind-hearted person and mother.
"I think that Eva was somebody who had a lot of empathy. I think is something that comes up for me just thinking about her is the empathy we all need for each other," Lattuga explained.
Lattuga noted that the loss of Prather is leaving a lasting impact on those who knew her.
"You know, it's really hard to sum up who Eva was in a few sentences but she just had an expansive heart and it really was expressed in her perpetual generosity and her just gentle demeanor and that creativity, that vivid, stunning creativity," she said. "I just feel really grateful that I had the sliver of time that I had with her and the different layers of life with her because it was too brief."
A celebration of life for Eva will be held at a later date.
