Obituary of Eva Gernhardt Handley

Eva Gernhardt Handley 1923-2012 Eva Gernhardt Handley, 88, passed away February 20 at Our House Assisted Living in Cambridge, Wisconsin. The daughter of Paulo and Bronislawa Gernhardt, Eva was born in the German enclave of Blumenau in the province of Santa Catarina, Brazil in 1923. She was one of eight children. She was educated in Catholic schools in Brazil where she learned Portuguese, her second language. She moved to Rio de Janeiro and was recruited to work as a show girl at the Copacabana Palace Hotel and Casino when she was 16. In 1946, she was spotted by a Hollywood agent and brought to Los Angeles on a contract with Twentieth Century Fox to be groomed as an actress. There she met her husband James Robert Handley, a film maker who was working on the Disney production �Fantasia� at the time. Deciding to pursue a modeling career, she traveled by train to New York and successfully established herself as a model, under the name Eva Gernay, first modeling for the fashion designer Mollie Parnis, and then moving on to a busy freelance career doing shoots for Harper�s and Vogue, as well as many advertising campaigns. She went to Paris and was a runway model at the couture shows. Eva also lived in Egypt for a time while her husband was shooting a film there. She retired from modeling to have children, settling with her family in Baldwin, New York. After raising her children, she began a second career as a jewelry designer, learning the trade of gemology and making many of her own creations. She retired with her husband to Charleston, South Carolina in 1981. Eva was preceded in death by her husband, James Robert, her son Steven, her sisters Henny, Cordula, Trudy, and Elsa, and her brothers Paulo and Robert. She is survived by her son Mark (Elizabeth); her grandchildren Christopher, Ryan, Jeffrey, Stephanie, Lucas and Nicholas; and her sister Frieda. A memorial to her extraordinary life will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, February 24 at Our House Assisted Living, 201 West Madison Street, Cambridge, Wisconsin.