Earvest Lee Helton was born April 9, 1933 in Linden, Texas to Willie and Bonnie Blanche Hawkins. The family moved to Dallas, Texas where Earvest attended elementary and her first two years of high school. She was a member of the PEP squad and exceled in Mathematics. Earvest moved to Stockton, California at age 15 years in 1950 to live with her mother. She completed her secondary education at Stockton Junior College. Earvest married Charles James Hunt Sr. in 1952 and to this union bore two children. In 1964, Earvest married Herbert Helton and to this union she gave birth to four children. In 1967, the family traveled to Incirlik, Turkey and lived there three years while Herbert was stationed at the U.S. Airforce base. In 1970, the family moved back to Stockton where Earvest remained until falling asleep in Jesus on September 20, 2018.
Earvest worked as a nurse’s aide at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, Texas and Dameron Hospital in Stockton, California. After years as a stay-at-home mom, Earvest returned to the workforce obtaining a position with the Employment Development Department and eventually began working at Family Resource and Referral where she worked 25 years and formed lifelong friendships. She was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church and, over the years, served in many church offices at Market & E SDA Church, the church she truly loved. She served as church clerk, Sabbath School Superintendent and teacher, Sabbath School Secretary, church pianist, and in 2006 she was ordained a church Elder under Pastor William Pennick. Earvest was also involved in prison ministries and sang soprano in the church choir. She loved to sing, write letters, walk, and she loved her family. Earvest was dedicated and committed to caring for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. If you visited her at work, you would see the many pictures of her children posted around her work station.
Earvest is preceded in death by her mother Bonnie, her father, Willie, her sister Faye Helen, her son Charles James Hunt, Jr., and her granddaughter, Courtney Noelle Hunt-Summers. She will be truly missed and leaves a legacy to her daughters Bonnie and Cornelia, her sons, Karl (Kimberly), Herbert (Dawn), and Ammon (Amy), sixteen grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and a host of beloved friends.
