Audrey Kaylene Helgerson

Audrey Kaylene Helgerson, age 94, was born on October 27, 1929, to Charles Kay Moody and Mattie Ellen Saunders in Richland, Oregon and died at home in north Portland surrounded by family on July 28, 2024.

She graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1947 and married Harland Ralph Helgerson on June 27th, 1949, and they celebrated 74 years of marriage.

Kaylene, as she was called as a child, was born in beautiful Eagle Valley to a family of dairy farmers and sheepmen. Too young to remember the Great Depression, those years still left a mark on how she grew up. She recalled her Grandma Saunders giving food to men going door to door looking for work. She was exceptionally close to her grandmother and helped her cook breakfast and supper for the haying crews, which could be as many as twenty hired hands, and included daily homemade sour dough bread. Kaylene loved food, planning meals and rolling leftovers into something tasty, but she did burn the toast she made for Harland the first day they were married. But that was okay, Harland was a savvy man and reassured her that he loved burnt toast.

Harland was a hard-working journeyman carpenter and never missed a day of work, and she was up even earlier making him, and the kids, breakfast and sack lunches. Those were the 1950’s and 60’s.

Kaylene loved children, and so did Harland, and together they raised three girls and four boys and shared the heartache of losing a baby to crib death on Christmas Day, 1953. Kaylene was a stay-at-home mom until she went to work for the Portland School District as a baker for Jefferson and Benson High School in the 1970’s and the Central Kitchen in the 1980’s. She retired in 1990. As her children married and had their own families, she would still fix Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners and everyone would form a circle to sing the table prayer. Up to age ninety she set the tables in the church fellowship hall and fixed the main dish for a sit-down dinner for seventy-five because her big family had outgrown the house. We will miss not being able to call her up for advice on how to make dumplings, but we have one framed recipe that she wrote in haste that says to “boil for twenty years.”

After the death of her mother in 2000, Kaylene (the name her mother preferred) decided she would be known as Audrey (the name her father favored). So, you may have known her as Audrey or Kaylene, depending on the era that she overlapped your life. She loved to fish with her husband, played golf, enjoyed square dancing and bowling, growing flowers and collecting bird houses. She and Harland grew up in big families that liked to sing, and this carried over to their married life. They sang together in the Peace Lutheran Church choirs and Lutheran Choral for 40 years, and she sang with the Monday Morning Musical chorus. Her faith was important to her, and the family went to church every Sunday without fail. She was also quick to join a board game, pinochle table, or to sit in the stands and watch her children/grandchildren play sports. In her 80’s the family started a weekly dinner and poker game. Her game name was Mongoose and she played to win.

Audrey was a natural storyteller and had an amazing memory for events, names, and dates and loved to reminisce about the antics on both sides of the family. Her sharp memory and desire to manage everything prevailed to her last breath.

Audrey Kaylene is survived by her children Deborah, Harland Ralph Jr. (Peggy); Constance Cunnington (Richard); Rebecca Smith (Bruce); David; Karl (Debra); Jon (Lisa); Twenty Grandchildren: Brie , Julian, Megan, Brian, Kate, Jeff, Richie, Rachel, Carmen, Candace, Joseph, Lindsey, Halee, Karee, Jacob, Ian, Nathan, Marena, Mary, Nolan; Twenty-one Great Grandchildren: Hana, Sandra, Zach, Alyssa, Emma, Sibyl, Dash, Ansel, Sydney, Cierra, Jordan, Emily, Jace, Jackson, Henry, Ellie, Kellen, John, Audrey, Taryn, Zerric; Great Great Grandchild: David James.

She was preceded in death by her husband Harland in April 2024, brother Charles L. Moody, infant son Joseph, and granddaughter Teisha Helgerson.

A Memorial service will be Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 11:00 a.m., at Peace Lutheran Church, with Rev. Berry Scruggs officiating. She is buried at www.skylinememorialgardens.com

Family suggests donations to Teisha’s Place in lieu of flowers or bake someone a batch of cookies, tell a good story, or sing a song.