Helen A. McGuire

She was raised on a farm and loved animals, especially horses. On her 13th Birthday, she received a big surprise when gathering the morning eggs in the barn... her 1st horse! At 12 years old in 7th grade she met the love of her life Larry McGuire. One highlight for Helen was being choose at age 16 from 12 candidates to be the first Queen of the SouthWest WA. Fair. She was pretty and smart! After graduation in 1951 at age 18 they were married on November 17th, 1951 at a Lutheran church in Chehalis, WA.

Moving immediately to Yakima so Larry could work along side with his dad and 6 brothers in the newly started family business of “McGuire Lumber”. Helen helped in the early years of the business by doing bookkeeping and annually with inventory. Yakima was their lifetime home and here they had three children, Mark, Kent, and Mona. Helen loved being a wife and homemaker and raising her family on a 10 acre farm in West Valley. She loved working in her garden, doing landscaping, raising foals and riding her Quarter horses. She was a hard worker and didn’t shy away from any job that needed done. She could be found painting fences, bucking hay, and changing sprinklers. Fall time brought on canning, freezing, and drying fruits & vegetables for the winter. She was a Cub Scout Leader and a 4-H leader as well, always supporting her children in activities that would help build character. She had a gentle and kind heart to animals, either giving a stray a home or finding a home for a stray. She was a skillful seamstress and sewed beautiful clothes for friends and family. Helen was very creative and enjoyed lots of crafts and decorating her home. She liked crossword puzzles, playing scrabble, and 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles.

In 1971 Helen and Larry built their “dream home” on Zier road and lived there for 35 years. Here Helen had a dream barn for her horses and lots of country to ride in. She enjoyed oil and water color painting, and displaying them in a custom wood frame made by Larry. Her favorite trips included Las Vegas, Hawaii & going to the Beach. Once, on a trip to Venezuela they had some tasty watermelon for dinner. Larry put some seeds in his pocket to bring home to plant. After forgetting about them and washing them in the laundry, they went ahead and planted them, and they grew! They became a favorite summer treat for many years. Helen enjoyed making unique scarecrows with each having a “character” of its own. She enjoyed entering them at Central WA. State Fair along with other vegetables and the Venezuelan watermelon they grew.

Helen enjoyed taking photos and was a wonderful organizer. She made her 3 children and 10 grandchildren a special memory book of their own, full of photos and mementos she had saved.

She had unconditional love for her grandchildren and was always a good listener and supportive. Helen had fun “having” and “going” to yard sales and looked for treasures to use at their cabin by Rimrock Lake. Their cabin had many fun times of BBQ’s & playing poker with family and friends. Later years changed Helen’s role into a caregiver for Larry after he had a heart attack and various health problems.

After 62 years of marriage the Lord took Larry home on May 22nd 2013. Helen passed two years later from complications from COPD. It was very fitting to pass on May 18th being the Anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s.

Helen is survived by Mark McGuire, Kent (Kandy) McGuire, Mona (Randy) Purcell. 10 grandchildren; Marcy, Jill, Patrick, Matt, Sari, Joey, Seth, LeAnn, Rachel, and Cheryl also 17 great grandchildren; Kyle, Garet, Gavin, Samantha, Ellie, Brooklynn, Max, Samuel, Mason, Karly, Layla, Lola, Valerie, Nataley, Dylan, Lily, and Daniel. Sister June Annis and brother Jerry Bennett, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Glen, and husband Larry. Helen will be remembered as a beautiful classy lady, full of patience, kindness, love and generosity. She will be greatly missed.

Visitation will be 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 28, 2015 at Keith & Keith Funeral Home. A Funeral Service will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 29th at the Yakima Alliance Church with burial following at West Hills Memorial Park.

To share a memory of Helen, visit www.keithandkeith.com