Helen Beatrice Fernandez

GASTONIA – Helen Beatrice Duerr Fernandez, 84, of Cramerton, NC, died peacefully with family at Gaston Memorial Hospital on August 25, 2012. Helen was born Oct 14, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, to the late Eugene William and Anna Laura Fendt Duerr. She was a member of Myers Memorial United Methodist Church since 1987. Helen was primarily a homemaker, very happy to raise her two children Louisa Mae and John Eugene. Prior to motherhood, she was a draftsman with Bell Telephone Labs. After her children were grown she worked at various companies as a bookkeeper and administrative assistant.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son John, and her two sisters Mildred and Jeanne.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 4:00 PM, Tuesday, August 28, at Myers Memorial United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Rev. Clyde Penry will officiate. Helen will be interred at Evergreen Rose Garden. Then she will be next seen playing basketball within the Pearly Gates.

She is survived by her daughter Louisa M. Suggs and her husband Daniel, and many grandchildren; Heather Munn Eident and husband Kenny, Stacy Munn Woody and husband Brian, Andrew C. Munn and wife Amy, Zachary J. Suggs, Caleb W. Suggs, and Trenton M. Suggs and wife Wendy. Her great-grandchildren were the love of her life: Canaan, Cooper, Liam and Zipporah Eident, Emma and Alex Woody, Henry and Jack Munn, and Evan, Eli, and Mattelyn Suggs.

She is also survived by two sisters Dorothy F. Brechter, of Bath, PA, and Carolyn P. Dunn, of Franklin Square, NY, along with Connie J. Elzey, a very dear family friend.

Helen so appreciated the love and service provided by her church family at Myers Memorial, especially Kathy Kavanaugh, Parish Nurse and friend, and the Builders’ Sunday School Class.

In lieu of flowers, Helen would prefer memorials be given to the Little Red Schoolhouse or the T.H.a.K.O. Orphanage in Haiti, c/o Myers Memorial UMC, 301 S. New Hope Rd., Gastonia, NC 28054.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.carothersfuneralhomegastonia.com

The family is being served by Carothers Funeral Homes, Gastonia.