Helen Breese Nibouar

Helen was born on June 6th 1921 in Washington County, Oklahoma. She was the second daughter of Franklin Edwin Breese and Pearl Harding Breese. She spent her childhood in Oklahoma and was a graduate of Ramona High School where she played forward on their state championship basketball team. She continued her love for sports and physical fitness throughout her life, attending her regular exercise class just weeks before her death.

Upon graduating high school, she held several jobs, eventually taking her to Washington D.C., where she was selected to be part of the group who first worked on the SIGABA cipher device, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was transferred to Florida and received on-the-job training as a cryptographer at Morrison Field, where she worked to obscure troop movements and other sensitive material through her coding. Here, she first met her husband, Lt. Colonel Grover Cleveland Nibouar Jr.

Throughout World War II and the occupation of Japan, she worked in code rooms in California, Hawaii, Japan, and The Pentagon. She was reacquainted with her husband in Japan whilst they were mutually assigned to the staff of General Douglas MacArthur. She was briefly transferred back to Washington D.C. before their marriage in Elkton, Maryland on January 19th, 1948.

Following their marriage, she returned to Japan to join her husband and work as an instructor teaching cryptography to military personnel. In 1949, they were transferred stateside and she left her work to start a family. They held residences in California, El Paso, Austin and Massachusetts before permanently settling back in Austin, Texas. In 2012 she was honored by the National Security Agency's National Cryptologic Museum for her role in "60 Years of Cryptologic Excellence".

In Austin, Helen worked as a secretary for Ortega Elementary School and Baker Sixth Grade Center. She was also heavily involved in volunteer efforts, hobbies and social clubs. Helen had a strong faith and passion for helping those in need. She was a longtime member of St. John’s United Methodist Church. With her husband, she was active in the Ben Hur Shrine in Austin and was a longtime member of The Daughters of the Nile. She gave generously of her time volunteering tens of thousands of hours to St. David’s Rehab Hospital and the Brackenridge Hospital Auxiliary Sewing Room.

She was a former Bee Keeper of the Dutch Dolls Quilting Bee, and member for over 35 years. Sewing was a lifelong passion, making dozens of quilts and an infinite trove of treasures. In later years she donated her time and material to make beds for animals in shelters and pillows for hospital patients.

Helen was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She never met a stranger and collected friends with her warm comforting smile. As loyal as any, she will be known for her love, optimism, hard work and generosity.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Pearl Breese, her husband, Grover Nibouar Jr., her son, Grover Nibouar III, brother Earl, sisters Eunice and Ethel and her son in law William Skelton. She is survived by son Douglas Nibouar of Reno, Nevada, daughter Marie Taylor of Austin, granddaughter Sarah Taylor Bryant, husband Zac and great grandson William Augustus Bryant of Austin; grandson Ryan Nibouar, wife Katherine and great-granddaughter Matilda Grace Nibouar of San Rafael, CA, and brother Richard Breese of Long Beach, CA.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six o'clock until eight o'clock in the evening, on Thursday, the 4th of January 2018, at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas.

Funeral services will be conducted at ten o'clock in the morning on Friday, the 5th of January 2018, at St. Johns United Methodist Church, 2140 Allandale Rd, Austin, Texas. Interment will follow at Cook-Walden Capital Parks Cemetery, Pflugerville, Texas.

The Nibouar Family wishes to give a special thanks to Hospice Austin for their care and support as well as the nursing staff at Seton Northwest ICU. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Rd. Austin, TX 78759 (www.hospiceaustin.org);