On Wednesday, April 20, 2022, Helen finished her extraordinary 102-year journey through life at home with her children by her side… just like she wanted. And that pretty much sums up her life. She was a strong, independent woman who walked through life with joy and determination and really knew how to tell a good story.
Helen Lucile (Berry) Hovis was born November 3, 1919, in Brewster, Kansas, during a blizzard--or so she was told every year on her birthday. Her parents, Benjamin Neal Berry and Laura Ann (Shehi) Berry were farmers and that set the tone for the rest of her life. As a child, Helen loved playing outside with her big brothers and was a little put out when her mom made her come in to play dolls or have a tea party with her little sister. She attended a one-room school house and had to take a test to pass out of 8th grade and go on to high school. She was very relieved to pass and attended high school in Wamego, Kansas, where she pitched for the softball team and played on the girls’ basketball team. Her basketball team won the state championship in 1937, the year she graduated from high school.
In the summer of 1939, Helen went to Washington State to pick fruit with her brother in the Yakima Valley. She promised her mother she would come back to Wamego at the end of the summer; but while she was in Wapato, she met a handsome young man who wanted her to stay. She did go back to Kansas, but she and her young man talked her mother and sister into moving back to Wapato with them the next spring. On July 8, 1940, Helen married Truman Hovis in Wapato with just her mother and his sister as witnesses. Over the next couple of years, Helen and Truman saved enough money to lease a place of their own and spent over 50 years farming various farms in the Wapato area. They raised everything from fruits and vegetables to cattle; eventually purchasing a 40-acre place where they planted concord grapes. In 1993, they sold the farm and moved to Union Gap where they lived for almost 30 years and added a whole bunch of new friends and adventures.
Helen and Truman were married nearly 65 years until his death in 2005. They raised four children, Dale, Don, Gene, and Joyce. While raising kids, helping with the farms and crops, and running a household, she found the time to spend 15 years as a floor supervisor at Stokley-Van Camp Canning Company in Zillah. She knew all about the best French fries and asparagus.
Helen’s life spanned an amazing century. She didn’t have electricity until she was 14 and didn’t have a dishwasher until she was 73. Even as a young married couple they sometimes didn’t have electricity or running water. She lived through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, two world wars, and two global pandemics. She told stories of watching the government men come to her farm to take away their cattle during the depression and about wading across a ditch in freezing weather with her skirts pulled up to her thighs to retrieve a pheasant that came down on the wrong side. As a child, she never thought she was poor (she was). She was always abundantly thankful for everything that came her way (but never mentioned how hard she worked for it). She was constantly amazed that her friends were so willing to help her out or do things for her without realizing that she reaped what she’d sewn.
Helen was fortunate to have a really long retirement. She loved their move to Union Gap and taking trips to the beach and going fishing with friends. She was very proud of the hillside she and her next door neighbor planted in beautiful flowers they tended so carefully… except that one time they left the water running and washed out part of the retaining wall. The land owner was very forgiving. Her favorite pastime was playing cards with anyone who would join her. She had two days a week set aside for cards with her friends until the pandemic hit and she had to cut back to just one. Her favorite card game was Hand & Foot which she played… and usually won… right up to end. It pleased her no end to enjoy sharing theses games with her great grandchildren, and the feeling was mutual. She was a gem and we were lucky to have her.
Helen is survived (and really missed) by her son Don (Mary Jane) Hovis of Yakima, daughter Joyce (Tom) Oldoski of Tacoma, and daughter-in-law Daphne Hovis of Edmonds; 9 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, several nieces, a nephew, and many, many friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Truman Hovis, two sons, Dale Hovis and Gene Hovis, her parents, her brothers Neal Berry and Dale Berry, and her sister Betty (Berry) Beem.
We would like to thank Yakima Valley Memorial Hospice for the compassion and friendship they showed Helen even though it was for a thankfully short time. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Hospice or a charity of your choice in Helen’s name.
Private family interment will be at Reservation Community Memorial Park in Wapato. Helen’s Celebration of Life will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27, at Keith & Keith Funeral Home with a reception to follow. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.keithandkeith.com.
