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Helen Marie Clark |
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August 31, 1933 ~ September 28, 2016 |
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October 3, 2016 |
Helen Marie Clark, 83, passed away lovingly in
Bonners Ferry September 28, 2016. Funeral
services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, October
10, at Mountain View Chapel in Lewiston. Burial
will follow at Lewis Clark Memorial Gardens at
3521 7th Street across from the chapel.
She was born August 31, 1933, in Juliaetta,
Idaho, to Phil and Iva Johns (Johnson) as the
youngest of three children. She lived with her
family in Juliaetta until they moved to Phoenix,
for her mother’s health. Her family eventually
moved to Southern California and before Helen
finished high school.
Helen married Gary Oelrich in 1950. After Gary’s
service in the Air force, they settled in
California to raise her family. Together they
had three children, Raymond, Leatha and Kelly,
all of whom are still living.
Helen and her family moved back to Juliaetta in
1965 to a ranch near the home where she was born
on American Ridge until moving to Spokane in
1969.
After a divorce, Helen married Fran Haun in Salt
Lake City, until his passing in 1991. She was
heartbroken, but never gave up on life or love.
Within a few years she relocated to Lewiston and
reconnected with her former high-school friend
Gale Clark, who she had known in the late 40s.
They became inseparable and married, living
comfortably in Lewiston until Gale passed away
accidentally in 1999. After traveling
extensively, Helen eventually moved to Bonners
Ferry to be closer to her daughter, Leatha.
She joins her former husbands in Heaven and is
once again reunited with her family that
preceded her, including her mother, father, many
friends, aunts and uncles and her sister, Margie
Emmons from Lewiston and her brother, Dick
Johns, who had relocated to Florida to retire.
Helen loved music and traveling. She toured much
of the United States and Canada with her former
husband Fran in their motor home, living in Palm
Springs during the winter. After Fran’s death
Helen continued to travel, with Gale by her
side, piloting her motor home all across the
country. She loved travel to Hawaii and visited
there many times. Considered one of the
highlights of her life, she travelled to
Kelowna, BC, several years ago with her
sister-in-law Margie Johns, her daughter Leatha
and daughter-in-law Keri-Lynn and attended a
live concert by famed singers Il Divo, where she
sat in the front row and got to meet all four
singers personally. She has probably set a world
record for the most number of Il Divo CDs owned
by any one person!
She enjoyed visiting her daughter, Kelly, in
California, and getting to know her
grand-daughter Erica's new family.
She held many jobs within her lifetime:
homemaker, the first female Washington State
security guard for the Pinkerton Security
company in Spokane, hearing aid technician, life
insurance sales person and real estate agent to
name a few. She enjoyed volunteering for
hospice, and always had a kind word for everyone
she met.
She is survived by her three children: Kelly
Roberts in California; Leatha Lockhart (Len
Schulte) in Bonners Ferry and Raymond Oelrich
(Keri-Lynn Oelrich) in Kelowna, BC, Canada. She
has many grandchildren including Kelly’s two
daughters, Erica Duran (Alex Duran) and Ami Kern
(Adam Kern) in California. Erica and Alex gave
Helen two great-grandchildren, Wyatt and
Annabelle Duran.
She has six grandchildren from her son’s family;
Benjamin, Tristan, Cody and Dakota Oelrich,
children of Raymond and his wife Keri-Lynn and
two older grandchildren from Raymond, Ryan
Oelrich in Honolulu and Jordan Dean
Harlton-Oelrich (Kymmy Pearson) in Salmon Arm,
BC.
In the last years of her life and especially the
last several months she had her daughter Leatha
by her side virtually every day. In the last few
weeks while in Hospice care Leatha was by her
side nearly every hour, day and night, with
Kelly and Raymond holding space until Helen
passed away at Leatha and Len's home in their
loving care. In the last week of her life she
was visited by her family, nieces and nephews to
say their goodbyes and be by her side, holding
her hand, brushing her hair and singing to her.
Her kitties were never far away.
As a young woman, Helen had an extended family
that came to her home ranch in Idaho nearly
every week from her brother and sister and their
children, and in total nearly a dozen kids from
all three families formed a life-long bond while
growing up in Idaho. Those roots kept Helen and
her daughter in Idaho until the day Helen passed
away.
In lieu of flowers the family asks any donation
be made to a local hospice in a city of your
choice, or to your local SPCA, where Helen
adopted her two loving companions, Bubba and
Cece, who were always by Helen's side.
In notes before her passing, Helen said she
wanted everyone to know: "Boy, what a life it's
been!" |
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