Helen Elizabeth Yeats Andersen

Helen Elizabeth Yeats Andersen passed away July 7, 2013 at the home of her son in Mesa, Ariz.

Helen was born at the ranch 20 miles north of Malta on July 19, 1925 to Harold and Ethel (Mead) Garland. In 1936 the family moved to western Montana, and eventually bought a farm west of Whitefish.

Helen attended grade school in town and graduated from Whitefish High School in 1944. She and her mother were two of the first women to join the work force during World War II. They were employed by the railroad, at the roundhouse in Whitefish, servicing locomotives.

She married Albert Yeats in 1945, and the next year, the first of three boys and three girls was born. Al worked for the railroad and Helen was a busy mom who enjoyed baking cookies for her kids and gathering them around her on a rainy day to read or recite poetry.

In June of 1960, Al died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Helen married Charles Andersen in 1962 and they added another son to the family.

Chuck worked in Glacier National Park and Helen and Chuck enjoyed rides over Going-to-the-Sun Road in his convertible. In later years Helen took up tole painting and created many pictures for family and friends. She liked to bake, cook, garden, preserve food and read.

Chuck passed away in 1984, and in 1987, Helen moved to Seattle to live with her brother, Bill, and his wife. She moved to Corvallis, Ore. in 2001 to be near her sister, Jean. They enjoyed friends in their apartment complex and in their church, and visits from family. There was rarely a day went by that the three siblings did not talk on the phone.

In April of this year, Jean and Helen traveled to Mesa to visit her son, Don and his family. While there, Helen was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She chose to undergo no treatments and remained in Mesa, staying at home with Don and Sandy, until her passing.

Her firm belief in God carried her through the physical pain and prepared her to say goodbye to her children as she saw each one of them for the last time. She expressed to each that she had had a long, good life and was ready for her next journey.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Glenn; her husbands, Al and Chuck; and one great-grandson, Carter Allen.

She is survived by her brother, Bill Garland, and wife, Annie, of Federal Way, Wash.; her sister, Jean Schreiber, of Corvallis, Ore.; her children, Don, and wife, Sandy, of Mesa, Ariz.; Dave, and wife, Luci, of Columbia Falls; George, and wife, Jody, of Kalispell; Judi Yeats, of Whitefish; Marcy Carr, of Kalispell; Diane Yeats, of Whitefish; and Glenn Andersen, of Federal Way.

Grandchildren are Allen Yeats, Danell Fitzgerald, Chelsie Dusek, Scott Yeats, Kelli Wong, Jamie Yeats, Krista Ford, Kari Lynd, Rikki Morrill, Sean Willmore, Ryan Willmore, Dylan Carr, Cory Andersen and Mikael Andersen. Helen also leaves behind her great-grandchildren: Matilda, Amelia, Lacee, Timmy, Akira, Winter, Kendall and Kadrin.

The family will gather in Glacier National Park on Friday, July 26 to celebrate Helen’s life with the spreading of her ashes and a potluck picnic. Friends are invited to bring a dish to share and join the family at the Apgar Picnic Area at noon that day.