Helen Gertrude Adrian

Our loving mother, Oma, relative, friend and life partner, Helen Gertrude Adrian (née Fast) passed away surrounded by family on June 21st, 2025.

In her 86 years of life, Helen was a nurse, mother, grandmother, aunt, gentle gardener and champion for the arts. She was predeceased by her mother Liesa, father Abram, sister Betty and brothers Dave and Abe. She is survived by her husband Herman, daughters Michelle and Karalyn, son Curtis (Leslie), and six grandchildren: Marissa, Cierra, Danika, Brianna, Alex and Kaity.

Helen was born on September 2, 1938, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Her parents, Abram and Liesa, were Russian Mennonites who immigrated to Canada in 1930. The third of four children, Helen was raised on a fruit orchard and attended secondary school at Eden Christian College.

After graduating in 1956, Helen embarked on a rewarding career in nursing. As a young adult, she travelled west to Winnipeg to further her education. She received designation as a registered nurse in July 1963, a month after obtaining her Bachelor of Christian Education degree from the Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC—now Canadian Mennonite University).

It was at CMBC that she met the love of her life, Herman Adrian. Both raised by Mennonite families in Alberta and Ontario respectively, the pair crossed paths in the heart of the Prairies. It was a love cultivated over picnics, faspa and long walks in the park, later blossoming into a marriage on July 4, 1964.

In the early days, living with little to their names, their love carried them through. For Herman, Helen was a steadfast, focused partner who never lost her way. She read his thoughts like her own and recognized his feelings before he felt them. As Herman’s lifelong partner and friend, she remains a permanent fixture in his life.

After stops in Kansas and Toronto, Helen and Herman returned to Winnipeg, where they gave birth to their first child, Michelle, in 1967. Their son Curtis was born three years later, followed by their daughter Karalyn in 1971.

To her children, Helen was a constant safe place, sitting at the kitchen table, listening to their dilemmas and offering sound, practical advice. She honoured every family celebration with her fine attention to detail, elegance and preparedness. She made the house a home.

At the turn of the millennium, Helen became an Oma to her first two grandchildren, Marissa and Cierra. In 2004, her third grandchild, Danika was born, followed by Brianna, Alex and Kaity in each subsequent year.

Helen and Herman lived on Barrington Street for half a century, where they raised their children, grandchildren, and a vibrant garden. The home became a sanctuary for generations. In times of turbulence, it was an anchor, a place to land between uprooting and rerouting.

Sunday mornings were Helen’s respite. She’d be sitting at the kitchen table with the Free Press crossword sprawled out, waiting for her children and grandchildren to congregate. The sweet sizzle of Herman’s flapjacks was accompanied by the soft murmur of CBC Radio humming a Chopin nocturne. A game of UNO would unfold and she’d win, gracefully.

Helen was a caregiver in every sense of the word. From nursing patients to feeding backyard birds, to watering her rainbow of flowers, she tended to all that lived around her.

Helen taught us the importance of hard work and giving back to others. After raising three incredible children, she returned to work, first as a pollster at Prairie Research, then as a fundraiser for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In her 70s, driven by an unwavering desire to learn, she enrolled in a university course on the Seven Deadly Sins.

Helen was a long-time season ticket holder for the Manitoba Opera, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. She instilled a great appreciation for the arts in her children and took each of her grandchildren to see the Nutcracker at Christmastime.

She had a quick mind, sharpened by a crossword a day. She was endlessly curious, delving into minds and lives different from her own through the literature on her coffee table. She was frugal in her purchases but rich in family heirlooms, memorabilia and creations by her children and grandchildren.

Helen was also a writer. In retirement, she penned On the Last Train, a prolific account of her parents’ arduous journey from Russia to Canada. In the final paragraph, she writes:

“There are many gaps in this story and we should have asked many more questions. We will have to be content with what we know. Hopefully for the generations ahead this will provide at least a small sense of where they came from and at best gratitude for sound decisions and a pride of heritage. We were left a legacy of the value of family, hard work, [thrift and practicality included] and a caring respect for people. I only hope that we can carry on this legacy in the somewhat differently turbulent era of today.”

Helen’s legacy lives on in our commitment to family, giving back to others and respecting all beings around us. We’ll continue to feed the birds, water the perennials and nurture generations with the same values she shared with us.