Helen Frances Kilpatrick (Rock)

Helen Frances Kilpatrick, 97, died Saturday, April 16, 2011. She was born July 27, 1913 to Yugoslavian immigrants Mateo and Draga Rock (Rak) in Chicago, Illinois. Helen earned a degree at Mount Mercy Teacher’s College and taught school, a job she loved, for several years before marrying Edward Kilpatrick in 1939. The couple with their infant son moved to Herndon, Virginia in 1940. Fourteen years later the family relocated to Boulder, Colorado, where they lived for 28 years before moving to Longmont. Helen was a woman of boundless energy and a strong sense of duty who believed intensely in the importance of a safe, secure, and healthy environment for her family. She worked tirelessly to provide that and raised her 12 children in a house that always seemed to hold the aroma of freshly baked bread. She maintained her love of learning and kept abreast of global affairs even well into her later years. Helen loved having people visit, especially family. Her grandchildren all knew that Grandma would be delighted to see them and would be highly interested in all their activities. Each member of the extended family has fond memories of stopping in to see Mom/Grandma and spending hours visiting around the large dining table. She will be greatly missed.

Helen Kilpatrick is survived by eleven children, Edward, Helen Manson (Don), Charles (Bobbie), Dorothy Hansen (Mike), John (Lora), Thomas (Rebecca), Therese (Dan Garbers), Katherine, Elizabeth Sherry (Billy), Rita Hall (Rob) and Michael; twenty seven grandchildren, twenty nine great-grandchildren, one sister. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ed, her daughter, Mary Ann and seven siblings.