Helen Lareau Imlach

Born Marie Helene Gertrude Lareau in Holyoke, Massachusetts on May 6, 1922 to Henri and Marie Ange Lareau (nee Aubry), she was the third of four daughters.

Helen attended Immaculate Conception Church elementary school and the Holyoke (Massachusetts) Public school system, graduating from Holyoke High School in 1940. She was proud of the fact that in elementary school she had all of her classes half day in English and half day in French. She therefore spoke fluent French. In high school she earned awards in track, volleyball and basketball, as well as penmanship.

Helen served her country during World War II as a member of the WAC’s (Women’s Army Corps). She was a charter member of the LaMonde-Frank American Legion Post #478 in Southgate, Michigan, serving as Post Commander 1978-1979. She was also a life member of Disabled American Veterans Post #219 in Austin, Texas.

Mom retired from the City of Southgate, Michigan after 22 years of service as Departmental Aide in May 1982.

In 1984, at the age of 62, she made the trek from Michigan to Spicewood, Texas to be near her only child Gail and grandson Scott. She quickly settled in to a life in jeans. She was active for awhile in the Bee Cave Senior group and reading to the kindergarteners at Oak Hill elementary. When the tornado hit the Pedernales area in May 1997 she volunteered at Pedernales Valley Baptist Church answering phones and sorting found belongings. In 2012, after falling and breaking her hip, she was pretty much confined to home. She loved playing Skip Bo and was always up for a game with her niece Barbara, neighbor Brad, and care givers over the recent years, Samantha, Heather, Diana, Julie and Nancy.

She was preceded in death by her husband William S. Imlach, her parents and her three sisters, Lucille Brouilette (Leo), Rhea Ostrowski (Felix) and Alice Sheedy (Michael). I can picture the reunion in Heaven with the four sisters sitting round playing pinochle.

She is survived by her daughter Gail J. Zahara and son-in-law David H. Ham, grandson Scott William Zahara, his wife Patty and their children Cooper Scott, Andrew and Wyatt. She is also survived by her step-grandsons Christopher Ham and his wife Rachel, children Bailey, Brian and Michael; Travis Ham and wife Holland, children Kyla and James, plus numerous nieces and nephews and childhood friends of Scott’s who all called her Grandma.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held Saturday, September 12, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. in the Tabernacle at Highland Lakes Camp and Conference Center, 5902 N. Pace Bend Rd., Spicewood, Texas, with Brother John Rudd, a longtime family friend officiating. It was her desire to be cremated and her ashes to be buried in Michigan, which will take place at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her honor to the building fund at Bee Creek United Methodist Church, 3000 Bee Creek Rd., Spicewood, Texas; Shiners’ Crippled Children’s Fund or a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Clements Wilcox Funeral Home, Marble Falls, Texas.

Online condolences may be made at www.clementswilcoxfuneralhome.com.