Helen I. Oliver passed away March 12, 2016, at the Peaks Care Center in Longmont, CO. She was 96 years old, a faithful follower of the Lord, and a long time member of LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont. Helen's parents were Alvin and Goldie (Warriner) Pearson. She was born on April 27, 1919, in Pierre, South Dakota. Helen lived with her parents on a ranch about 11 miles north of Pierre. The ranch is now under the Missouri River. When Helen was about age six, the family moved to a farm 7 miles from Blunt, SD where she and her Warriner and Pearson cousins enjoyed playing together. During the 1929 depression, grasshoppers invaded and enveloped South Dakota. They ate the wheat; they ate the corn, they even ate the fence posts. Helen and her cousins and friends would catch the grasshoppers and tie strings around their necks. Helen often walked to the little country school she attended and sometimes rode her horse to school. She graduated from Blunt High school in 1937 as salutatorian of her class. The family attended the Blunt Church of Christ where Tibbs & Norma Maxey ministered and where Goldie played the piano. Tibbs Maxey later started the College of the Scriptures that enabled African Americans to study to become ministers. Following Norma Maxey's untimely death, Tibbs married Helen Burris Moore, a girlhood friend of Helen's. Helen & Gene were attendants at their wedding.Following Helen's graduation from high school, her parents moved the family to Grand Junction, CO where Helen attended Mesa Junior College for three semesters. Helen met Eugene Frederick Oliver at First Christian Church in the fall of 1937. They eloped on January 15, 1939, and were married in a Baptist minister's home in Moab, Utah. Their daughter, Gail Ann, was born on June 27, 1940. Helen held down Gene's job at the Daily Sentinel while Gene served in the Navy during WWII. The couple lived in Grand Junction until January, 1949, when they moved to Wymore, Nebraska where Gene was manager of Marshall Produce Egg Company for Helen's 1st cousin, Virgil Marshall. Helen met Eugene Oliver at the First Christian Church in the fall of 1937. They eloped January 15, 1939, and were married in a Baptist minister's home in Moab, Utah. Their daughter, Gail Ann, was born on June 27, 1940. Helen held down Gene's job at the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction while Gene served in the Navy during WWII. The couple lived in Grand Junction until January, 1949, when they moved to Wymore, Nebraska where Gene was hired to be the manager of Marshall Produce Company for Helen's 1st cousin, Virgil Marshall. Primarily a homemaker, Helen actively served in Christian Churches everywhere she and Gene lived: teaching Sunday school, hosting parties, and serving dinners to visiting revival ministers, and housing missionaries. On one occasion they hosted a dinner for Virgil & Blanche Brock who were in Wymore serving as musicians for a revival meeting. Virgil & Blanche were composers of the famous hymn Beyond the Sunset. Helen served a homemade berry pie for dessert that Virgil loved! Before the conclusion of the revival meeting, Virgil went to the local grocery store and bought another can of berries that he took to Helen and asked if she would bake another pie for him and Blanche that they could take with them in the house trailer in which they traveled from place to place. In Wymore, NE, Helen was part of a church social group that called themselves The Birthday Girls. As each of the ladies in the group had a birthday, the other members of the group would surprise them by showing up announced with food and presents. With the death of Helen, only one birthday girl remains. The surviving member is Marian Hoschouer whose husband, Kenneth, had 3 ministries in Wymore.Helen and Gene traveled often, touring Europe, the British Isles, the Orient, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. The tour guide for one of their two trips to Israel was Don DeWelt, professor of Ozark Bible College. In addition to traveling with Gene, Helen also enjoyed cooking, playing bridge with friends, and painting ceramic Christmas trees, lamps, figurines, many of which were gifts to friends and family. Preceding Helen in death were her parents, her husband Gene Oliver, her sister, Joyce Bowles, her brother Jerry Pearson, a nephew Michael Bowles and her brother-in-law Robert Oliver. Helen is survived by her daughter, Gail Fray of Longmont; her sister, Janet Pearson of Longmont; two sisters-in-law: Louise Oliver of Grand Junction and Evelyn Pearson of Wisconsin; nephews Paul Oliver & Phil Oliver of Grand Junction, Edward Pearson of Wisconsin; Kathy Pearson Cycyota of Illinois and Bruce Bowles of Glenwood Springs.JANET'S NOTESHelen was in her early twenties with a husband and infant daughter when she began to take on monumental responsibility in the Pearson family. Her mother was very ill with Scleroderma (hardening of the skin) for which there was no treatment and no cure. Helen did all she could to care for her mother even taking her into her tiny apartment for a short time. When her mother died at age 52 she left behind two girls: ages 6 and 12 and a son ready for college.World War II had begun and there was little work in Grand Junction. Her father went to work on the West Coast and her husband went to the Navy. Helen took in her teenage sister, Joyce. Janet went to live with friends and her brother, Jerry, accelerated his Colorado University education, preparing to be commissioned in the Navy. Helen was responsible for making decisions for the girls. Her home was home base for her siblings and remained so into their adult years. Gene always welcomed his extended family home.If you think of Helen as a sweet, tiny, little lady to be protected, remember she juggled all this with her own child and worked Gene's job at the Daily Sentinel newspaper, saving it for his return from the Navy.Helen and Gene were a couple of great faith and love. She and Gene were always active and involved in work at the church. Helen could go home from church and have a delicious meal on the table for family and guests within an hour (except when she forgot to turn the oven on!).The first home they owned in Nebraska had colonades that divided the dining room and living room. Helen hated them and Gene was willing to have them removed. When Gene didn't have it done promptly, he went home from work one day to find Helen had begun the removal process herself with a hammer. Helen also took a hammer to the front porch when she wanted it removed. Gene always complained that he had to plant all bushes and trees at least twice before Helen was satisfied.In case of a sudden night thunder storm Helen would get Gene to go out and close the car windows though by the next day he would have no memory of it at all. When our family was together these stories were often a subject of hilarity! Gene would tell his side of it with a good natured chuckle and a little embarrassment and we would all laugh and add a few choice observations. Helen would giggle and laugh until tears ran down her cheeks and she couldn't breathe. We all had such fun together. We will miss Helen!!
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