Helen A McAninch

March 2,1929 - June 13, 2020

Helen McAninch, beloved wife, mother and grandmother went to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus, on June 13th following years of declining health.

For the last few months of her life she was in hospice care at the Commons of Hilltop. Her family was blessed to have her in their lives for most of her 91 years. She was surrounded by her family in her final weeks and days and knew how much she was loved.

Helen was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee by Caleb Lewis Andrews and his wife Nina. Helen developed many close, lifelong friends in her youth. She attended high school and later nursing school in Memphis and became a licensed practical nurse. She worked as a home health nurse throughout much of her adult life.

Helen met Mac, the love of her life, on a blind date. While traveling with a dear friend on vacation she met a soldier who thought she would like his friend, an Army veteran of the Korean war, who was taking professional courses in Memphis. Mac and Helen met for a date and soon fell in love. They married on June 17, 1952. Had Helen lived a few days longer they would have celebrated 68 years of marriage. They started their family in St. Louis, Missouri but moved to Colorado in 1957 when Mac took a position with the US Forest Service. Over the next eleven years they lived in Pagosa Springs, Del Norte, and Durango. Finally they moved to Lakewood and set down roots, living in the same house for the next 50 years. In 2017 Helen and Mac moved to Grand Junction to the Commons.

Helen lived out her faith through her gift of hospitality. She genuinely loved all people, especially the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. She created a warm home where all were welcome, including many stray animals. She expressed her love for others through her work as a home health nurse and as a Sunday school teacher at a nearby nursing home, where she taught for 40 years. Her greatest wish was for those she loved to be at peace with each other.

Helen loved the natural world and shared that love with her family by getting up to watch a meteor shower or an eclipse of the moon, or to take a drive to see the changing leaves in the fall.

Helen is survived by her loving husband C.D. (Mac) McAninch, her three children, and their spouses: Carol, Randy (Leslie), and Mike (Amy); five grandchildren and their spouses: Trevor (Cira), Caleb, Sarah (Brandon), Dylan (Corey), and Dean (Charlotte). She also is survived by nine great grandchildren: Jaden, Declan, Grady, Daniel, Sylis, Layla, Rees, Hunter, and Lanea.

We are grateful for the time we had with Helen and she will be greatly missed. We know that she is no longer in pain, nor is she suffering. We look forward to the day when we will see her again when we join her in heaven with Christ.

In Lieu of flowers, tributes can be sent in her name to HopeWest Hospice, Ken Carly Baptist Church in Littleton, CO, or your local animal shelter.