Helen Marie Adams

Adored wife of Leroy Adams, married for 67 years with 4 children, Joel Adams, Michelle Adams, Melissa Lawhon and Mary Stephenson, grandmother of 8, great-grandmother of 7.

Helen was an exceptionally creative woman with a natural gift for cooking amazing meals and creating beautiful interior/exterior home design(s). She grew up in the very small town of Beach, ND, population 1,000, the oldest of 4 sisters and at the age of 11 she lost her beloved father to a heart attack. It was a devastating loss from which she never truly recovered. Helen relocated to Portland, Oregon, at 19 years of age, married Leroy Adams after a whirlwind two-week courtship and raised a family of four children. She began a career in corporate banking as a Teller when her children reached school age. Helen relocated again when her husband was transferred to Southern California and she continued a path of extraordinary professional accomplishments including rising to the Vice President role for Real Estate Loan at Union Bank, the first person to do so without holding an advanced degree. She was a role model for women in the workplace and paved the way for others to follow in her footsteps. Helen gifted her children with her fierce intelligence and intense work ethic that continues to live in each generation that has followed.

Graveside services will be held at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, CA, on July 2, 2021, at 1:45 pm. Donations to the Alzheimer’s Association are welcome in lieu of flowers.