Helen Elder Honts

Helen Marie Elder Honts, 93 years young, of San Antonio, died Sunday, July 29, 2001. Helen was born September 9, 1907, in Belmond, Iowa and was the oldest of five children raised in rural Iowa. After obtaining a business school education, she worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. State Department. Helen married Emory Ralph Honts on December 30, 1930, in a marriage of more than 53 years. Colonel Honts passed away on August 20, 1982. Her long and successful life was dedicated to her husband, children, grandchildren, family, and friends. She is remembered for being the "most unselfish" person in the lives of all of those who knew her. Possessing an "itchy foot", she traveled worldwide with her loved ones to far away places including Alaska, China, Russia, Australia, South America, Egypt, Greece, Europe, and including voyages on the Alaska Inner Passage and the Amazon, Nile, Yangtzee, and Volga Rivers. Many of these adventures were undertaken after Helen was legally blind, a handicap which she would not allow to curb her enthusiasm for life.

This dedicated, unselfish, courageous, intelligent, loving woman will be missed by her survivors which include her daughters Dr. Mary Honts Rossman and Dr. Jacqui von Honts, and her son Bob Honts, and by grandchildren Rob Honts, John Honts, Janet Michelle Powell, and Valerie Reneé Rossman and great-grandchildren Kelly Elizabeth and Rachel Marie Honts and sisters Jessie DeVries and Marion Schwartz.