Helen Depaulis Byrd

Helen DePaulis Byrd, 96, born on April 25, 1918, in Aurora, Minnesota, passed away June 24, 2014. She resided in Menifee, California at the time of her passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Glendale, California.

Helen was born and raised in Aurora. Her parents were Fabio and Rosina DePaulis who had emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. She had two brothers -- Henry and Albert. Helen graduated from Aurora High School in 1936. She had played violin in the high school band, was an excellent student, and had many close friends.

In 1937 she married her high school sweetheart Henry Luoma and they "took off" for Los Angeles, California in a Model T Ford with a rumble seat. It was still depression days and there were no jobs in Los Angeles. However, Helen was one of three selected to be a theater usherette for a corporation of five theaters. Henry wasn't able to find work, so they returned to Aurora where Nancy was born in 1939. In 1941 Henry was recruited to work for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, and they returned to Los Angeles once again. They later divorced and Helen went back to Minnesota. Since there was not much work in the small town of Aurora, she was able to get a free ride with friends to Denver, Colorado and went to work for the telephone company in early 1947. On one summer vacation she and Nancy went to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to visit friends. She ran out of money and transferred to the Telephone Company in Washington, DC. She married William Byrd in 1952 and their son Robert was born in 1953. They were later divorced.

In 1958 Helen and Bobby took the train back to Los Angeles to be closer to Nancy and she transferred to AT&T where she worked until she retired. Even after retirement Helen had several part-time jobs. She was a member of Bethany Presbyterian Church and later Wilshire Presbyterian Church where she was a Deacon. For at least ten years at Wilshire Presbyterian Church Helen volunteered every Monday at the Food Pantry. Because of her secretarial and organizational skills she was in charge of accepting the clients and verifying their eligibility. QueensCare worked in conjunction with the Food Pantry, There were 65 churches and schools in the QueensCare organization and Helen was named "Volunteer of the Year" over all of them one year.

During her time in Denver, Helen was a member of the Gray Lady Service, a volunteer service through The American National Red Cross. She was also a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. She was always active, even after she moved to Kingsley Manor in 2003 when she was 85 years old. She worked in Kingsley's gift shop, had her hair done every week, attended church weekly, continued to work at the Food Pantry for as long as she could, she played bingo, mastered the art of Origami, attended exercise classes and read voraciously. She had many, many friends, and the Kusunokis were her and Bobby's "family." They spent holidays and special occasions with them for years.

Sadly, in July of 2004 she lost her beloved son Robert (Bobby). At this time, she became very close once again to her daughter Nancy and her granddaughters Katey and Jennifer and her great-granddaughter Jennifer Barclay.

Helen was a very brave and independent woman. In October of 2012, at the age of 94 she moved to Sun City (Menifee), California where her daughter and granddaughters lived. God blessed her when we found Sunny Rose Glen, an assisted living facility that was minutes from her family. She was dearly loved at Sunny Rose Glen and once again became active playing bingo, doing arts and crafts and attending their "happy hours." Helen had her hair done weekly and was introduced to gel nails, pedicures, and frozen yogurt! She read at least one book a week and loved mysteries. She attended a weekly Sunday worship service. She was beautiful to the end and always a fashion plate!

She was dearly loved and will be missed by many. She is survived by her daughter Nancy Atherley, granddaughters Jennifer Pulles and Katherine Barclay and great-granddaughter Jennifer Barclay as well as many nieces and nephews. She left behind many long-time friends including the Kusunoki family who was her family for many years and special "foster" son James Jones.