Esther Louise Helfers

RIP Grandma 💔

Esther Louise Helfers

Born: September 25, 1918

Died: April 26, 2022

Esther Louise Helfers, departed us on April 26th at the budding age of 103 ½ and lived a full life that we can only hope to reach someday. She may have been 103 ½, but to us, age was just a number calculated on the calendar. Until recently her mind was sharp, humor was ever present in her character and she could recall events from her youth while keeping up with her daily routine.

Esther was born on September 25, 1918, one of five children born and brought up on a small farm in Craig, Missouri. She graduated from Bellevue High School in the spring of 1936 and was the Valedictorian of her graduating class. Shortly after graduation, she married her husband of 56 years, Bernhard W. Helfers. They moved to San Diego in 1943 and began to grow their family of three children, Bernhard W. Helfers, Jeannette Emde and Shirley Weisser.

Nothing made her happier than visitors- especially her family, and to say her family took root in San Diego and blossomed is an understatement. Over the years, her family grew to include 11 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren, all of whom she knew by name.

Visiting her was not paying respect to an elderly relative- it was making memories with someone full of life, stories, wisdom and love. Her door was always open to family visiting from afar, she loved being taken out to lunch and to be cooked for. Until recently, she still made trips to the local casino to enjoy the buffet and traveled to see family for Thanksgiving.

She was born long before airplanes would fill the sky and highways would criss cross over the land.

She was born in a time that women had few rights.

She would be too young to care about prohibition but The Great Depression would leave its mark, filling her cupboard with stacks of plastic butter containers and saving every button she came across, many still with the thread that once held them onto the garment they once held, carefully placed in the cookie tin.

She was a young adult during the time of the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor.

She’s seen 16 presidents and voted each and every election once she was eligible.

In a time that most moms stayed at home, Esther worked. She wore “smart” skirts and heels and saved some of her favorites in a cedar chest to pass on to her granddaughters.

She worked hard over the years and once retired, was proud of the fact that she planned for her own retirement that allowed her to travel and see the world, which she enjoyed with family and her younger sister, Dorothy. As sisters, she and Dorothy both became active with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and she served as regional President of the San Diego Chapter for a number of years. Genealogy became a passion in her later years and she and Dorothy would track relatives back hundreds of years who trekked across the country or embarked to the New World across the Atlantic. She and Ben were involved with the Lutheran Church prior to his passing in 1994, and more recently, she would look forward to regular visits from Deacon Rich.

We would be remiss if we did not share how she passed, as that seemed to be a highlight for her in reading obituaries. Esther passed away in her sleep, knowing that her beloved daughter, Jeannette, was ever present by her side. She is survived by her son, Bernard Helfers, daughter, Jeannette Emde, sister, Dorothy Lovelady, and is preceded in death by her daughter, Shirley Weisser.

We love you Gramcracker – you will always be the biggest and brightest firework in our hearts and minds.