Helga Kehm Daret

A memorial service will beheld in July. Please visit her website for updated information.

She was born in Portland, Oregon to Wilhelm and Elsa Kehm on September 1, 1927. Helga dedicated her life to teaching, helping, and caring for others.

As a young girl, Helga taught Sunday school classes in German and English at the Rodney Avenue Methodist Church in Northeast Portland. She also worked at the original Fred Meyer store on SW Fifth and Yamhill.

During WWII, Helga met her future husband, Herbert Daret, at the Oaks Park roller skating rink in Portland, Oregon, while his ship, the USS Velocity (minesweeper), was being repaired. Herbert was a radio operator and gunner. His ship was eventually sent to clear mines in the Sea of Japan. He was from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Helga graduated from Jefferson High School in 1945. She attended pre-nursing courses at Lewis and Clark College, then graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in physical education and health. She worked at Emanuel Hospital and later was a supervisor for the Portland parks bureau.

In 1949, Helga took a job at St. Helens Hall (now Oregon Episcopal School) as a physical education and health instructor.

In 1950, Helga and Herbert married, and lived with Helga’s parents. With the help of Wilhelm, Elsa, and other close friends and family, they built their first home. It took them five years, working on weekends and paying as they went.

In 1963, their son Arthur was born.

Helga continued pursuing her education and graduated from the University of Oregon 1964 with a Master’s in Education.

Although Helga had planned to teach for only one year and then go to nursing school, God had other plans. Over the next fifty-five years, Helga devoted much of her life to her students. She coached girls basketball, volleyball, organized ski trips, and horseback riding. She also advised the G.A.A. (Girls Athletic Association) which coordinated with Catlin Gabel to sponsor volleyball, basketball, and softball games. Helga even appeared on the Horst Meager cooking show on AM Northwest where she made her OES Country Donuts. In 1975, Helga became the middle school principal at Oregon Episcopal School.

When Herbert passed away unexpectedly in 1973, she made sure her son Arthur stayed active by involving him in baseball, hockey, basketball, and music. She attended all of his games, and she did her best to be both a mother and father. Helga never remarried, remained in the home they built and neighborhood she loved, for the rest of her life.

After leaving Oregon Episcopal School, she taught for twenty years at Grout Elementary school. She retired at the age of 74.

Helga’s work ethic, sense of humor, kindness, and willingness to give left lasting impressions on her family, students, coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Her mother’s love was unconditional, even in the most trying times.

She is survived by her son Arthur, his significant other (Jeanette Griffin), grandsons Louis and Nathan, stepdaughter in law Andrea Weber and her husband Barry Adams, and sister-in-law Beverly Daret Escher, nephews Stephen and Scott, and nieces Sharn, Syd and Susan, and nieces and nephews of the late Lillian Daret Smith, late Arthur, Lillian, David and Deidre.