Helen Smades

Our beloved mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, friend and Fresno Legend, Helen Smades passed away peacefully on February 24, 2022 at the age of 94.

Helen was born on September 20, 1927 to Ella (Fanger) and Peter Joseph Lesmeister in Portland, Oregon. The family relocated to Klamath Falls, Oregon, where she and her older sister, Dorothy, attended Sacred Heart Academy for twelve years. The foundation of Helen's family values and work ethic began with the love and trust received from her mother and father, her German upbringing and strong Catholic education, which stressed honesty, morality, giving, sharing and helping others.

As a young girl, she often babysat from 6 p.m. - Midnight for $1.00. Reading the classified ads in the eighth grade, she applied for a housekeeping position for 20 cents per hour. Her duties included picking up the newspapers, washing dishes, making beds, vacuuming and dusting, which she did in less than an hour. Soon she was setting the table and cooking their dinner which led to a raise, earning her 25 cents per hour and a place at their dinner table!

In 1944, while still in high school and with WWII raging, Helen spent the summer in San Francisco living in a boarding house with her dear friend, Maxine Hendrick. After her seventh job interview at the age of 16, she declared her age as 18 and promoted her efficiency in typing, Dictaphone, shorthand and bookkeeping, which earned her a secretarial job for Mr. Warner at The Pullman Company at a starting salary of $100 per month. After successfully testing urban living for a summer, she returned to Klamath Falls for the dreariest nine months of her life to complete high school.

Helen's father had spent eight years in Catholic seminary prior to meeting her mother, and later worked for the Great Northern Railroad. This afforded Helen the opportunity to hop on a train the day after her high school graduation to join her sister, Dorothy, who was studying at Fresno State. Upon her arrival in Fresno in May 1945, she was awestruck by the vibrant green beauty of Fresno and the immense population of 70,000. Because of her work experience in San Francisco, she was immediately hired as a legal secretary at the age of 17 by Kimble, Thomas, Snell, Jamison and Russell, where she worked for five years.

She met her dance partner, Harold Smades, at Pieper's Dancing School and they married in December 1946. They lived in a $50/month furnished house with one car which Harold drove to work at Smades' Variety Store in Madera while Helen rode the bus to work. After her first daughter, Kathi, was born, Helen obtained her real estate license in 1953, and established Helen Smades Realtor in 1957. In Fresno and Clovis, she was the youngest of only eleven women Realtors in a "man's profession".

Helen was blessed with three more daughters: Debbie, Patti and Cindy. She insisted on being present at their important life events, while also working over 50 hours per week. When her husband, Harold, passed away in 1961, Helen became a single mother of four young daughters. She had the gift of balancing her business and being a nurturing mother, even sewing her daughters' clothes into the wee hours of the night.

In 1964, Helen married Bob Klein, Sr., Fresno's first City Manager. They enjoyed 25 years of marriage, travel and family before he passed away in 1988.

Helen was an incredible woman of amazing strength, courage, faith, intelligence, ambition and gratitude. She survived many adversities in life - including the loss of two husbands, her grandson, and the total loss of her home to fire in 1968 – and still emerged with grace and love. She remained a civic leader and community philanthropist throughout her life, always giving back, being a role model and mentoring others.

Helen ran her business with an open door policy, high standards, hard work, integrity, knowledge and professionalism. She credited her successful 67-year career in real estate to four good daughters, two supportive loving husbands, and dozens of wonderful sales associates and staff over the years. She sold her business in 1994 to London Properties where she remained active until the recent end of her career. She graciously donated to Fresno State the famous Clement Renzi Bronze Sculpture that graced her building on Shaw Avenue for years.

Helen was a woman of valor and was gifted with an uncanny memory, enjoyed connecting people, entertaining in her home (always with nametags on the right lapel), international travel and loved her family immensely. She always had a positive attitude, sense of humor and truly lived life to the fullest. Hers was a life of service to her community, acknowledged by numerous awards and honors. Helen was a lifelong patron and supporter of Fresno State, a charter member of the Pinnacle Society, served on the Foundation Board of Governors, founded the President's Circle of Excellence Fund, founded and chaired the Craig School of Business Advisory Council and was honored as Business Person of the Year among many more honors. She was Fresno's first woman president of the Chamber of Commerce, first woman recipient of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce Leon S. Peters Award, the first woman chair of the St. Agnes Medical Center Foundation Board, Governor's Appointee to the California Small Business Advisory Board and the first woman appointed to the California Chamber of Commerce Board.

Regardless of her lifetime of accomplishments, Helen always referred to herself as "the Helen Smades of today is the same Helen Lesmeister that stepped off the train from Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1945, with all her possessions in two suitcases."

Helen was predeceased by her parents; her husbands, Harold and Bob; her sister, Dorothy; her son-in-law, Cliff Henes; and her grandson, Barrett Forrest.

She is survived by her four daughters, Kathi Hintz (Jerry), Debbie Henes, Patti Hutchins (Wade) and Cindy Smades. She is also survived by her seven grandchildren, whom she adored, Heather Wyatt (Dirk), Ryan Hintz (Jane), Brett Henes, Tiffany Henes, Brittni Hutchins, Parker Hutchins (Molly) and Taylor Hutchins; and five great-grandchildren, Farrah, Hunter, Hudson, Tyler and Turner and baby Hutchins arriving any day. Auntie Helen was loved by Gary Garabedian, Diane Allen, Sally Garabedian, Polly Garabedian, Steve Worthington, Babette Lopez and Penny Baxter.

She was deeply grateful for the fabulous attention she received from the caregivers at Caring Heart Residential Living for the last 20 months, Dr. Ravi Rao and Hinds Hospice, which blessed her with her "Golden Angel," Nurse Mike Davis.

A Funeral Mass Service will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church,

5770 N. Maroa, on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 10:00 am.

Interment will be private with Whitehurst Funeral Home handling the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Helen's memory:

to CSU Fresno Foundation (Helen Smades Memorial Fund),

St. Agnes Medical Center

Valley Children's Healthcare Foundation (Barrett's Drowning Prevention Fund).