Helen Hamer Geoffrion

Helen Hamer Geoffrion, 82, died April 13, 2021 at her home in Santa Monica, California, after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimer's Disease.

She was born on New Year's Day, 1939 in Columbus, Ohio, to Herman Horace Hamer, who was also born in Columbus, and to Helen Fowler Hamer of Sharon, Wisconsin. Tragically she and her brother Robert, 3 years older, lost their mother to a postpartum embolism only two weeks later. Yet Helen had a reasonably happy childhood, graduated from Columbus School for Girls in 1956, then four years later from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a BA in Zoology.

Immediately after graduation, Helen drove to California with a girlfriend and found employment as a research assistant in a pharmacology laboratory at the Stanford Medical School. She married Arthur Geoffrion, a graduate student from Manhasset, New York at Stanford University, on 12/22/62 at the First Congregational Church in Palo Alto. They moved to the Santa Monica area in 1965 when he joined the UCLA faculty.

She was the lovingly devoted mother of two daughters: Susan Geoffrion Wasson, born in 1965 and now of Superior, Colorado, with her sons Jordan and Jedd; and Debra Geoffrion Church, born in 1967 and now of Del Mar, California, with husband Brian and their sons Graydon and Hudson and daughter Winslow. All survive her, as does her nephew Hil Hamer of Gallatin, Tennessee, his wife Dawn, and their son Harrison.

Helen was smart, extremely self-reliant and energetic, invariably cheerful, ambitious, self-disciplined, persevering, reliable, quick to laugh, morally sturdy, dedicated to her family, and attentive to her friends. She was 5'10", slender, blonde and blue-eyed. She had a fondness for whippets (keeping at least one throughout her entire married life), English cars, colorful clothes, flower gardening, medical news, moose, cheetahs, and small stuffed animals – especially bears. But her main passions were for her family, participating in sports, and investing in real estate. She described herself as a "do-er", and in these three domains she certainly did a lot.

Family was always her first priority as the dutiful and loving wife and the involved and attentive but not overly hovering mother, and she remained on best-friend terms with both daughters for her entire life.

Sports furnished the outlet for much of her energy and enjoyment of competition, which she always insisted was more about participating than winning. And it was a rich source of friends, especially tennis and swimming. She played all seven of the sports offered at her high school, and at Miami University played varsity soccer, basketball, and swimming (captain). After college, she went on to become an avid tennis player and Masters swimmer. She had over 250 Top-Ten Swims at U.S. Masters Swimming events from 1972-2013 covering every stroke, another 32 top-ten Relay Swims, and was a 6-time USMS All-American. By 1986 she ranked in the top 5 in the world for her age group in breast stroke, and was on the relay team that set a Masters World Record in Tokyo that year for the 4x50M Medley.

1986 was also the year she began competing in triathlons. From 1994 to 2010, she was on the USA Triathlon Team 14 times at World Championship competitions in at least 8 countries. She placed second in her age group in the 2003 Aquathlon Championships in Queenstown, 3rd in the 2009 Gold Coast Triathlon Championships, and 4th in the 2010 Budapest Triathlon Championships. Her high school chose her as the 2000 Winner of the Columbus School for Girls Athletic Hall of Fame.

Her interest in real estate investing was sparked by her maternal grandmother Mathilda (Tils) Wolf Fowler, with whom she spent many weekends as a child until Tils died when Helen was 15. Tils owned several rental properties, and would often make the rounds of them with Helen in the car. She never urged Helen to go into real estate -- she was more inclined to get her interested in opera -- but the idea that women could own and manage apartment buildings was not lost on Helen.

Starting with a small nest egg in the late 1960s, after taking some UCLA Extension courses in statistics and real estate, she began a long career of putting together partnerships with friends and family to invest in apartment buildings and the occasional single-family home on the west side of Los Angeles. For years, she managed them herself and did much of the painting and cleaning needed when tenants moved in and out, often with the help of her father whom she brought out from Columbus in 1969. Over time, buildings were sold and traded up, partnerships were liquidated, she employed a manager or two, and diversified to Malibu, Del Mar, and La Jolla, California. She claimed to enjoy the hours of required nightly desk work, which she did at a roll-top desk very much like the one her beloved grandmother used. She had a keen eye for properties with potential and ample energy to make them succeed.

Quite a lot is known about Helen's ancestry, thanks to the initial work done by daughter Debra and then continued by husband Arthur and several professional genealogists. Her father's line came from Germany 4 generations ago and her mother's line came from England 10 generations ago. Based on her 8 great grandparents, she was 3/8 German, ¼ English, ¼ French, and 1/8 Belgian. A family legend had it that she descended from one of the Mayflower's most celebrated couples, John and Priscilla Alden, and this in fact turned out to be true.

She was very appreciative of the people and institutions that nurtured her, creating memorial endowments in honor of her father, who died in 1981 and with whom she was very close, and in honor of her brother, who died in 2007. She also gifted organizations that played important roles in their lives or hers.

Helen was well endowed with personal qualities that enabled her to live such an active and successful life, and to have such rich friendships and loving relationships with family. Her passage leaves a deep void but also fond memories in the hearts she touched.

Those who wish to make a memorial gift are encouraged to do so to the Alzheimer's Association.

Contact information: ageoffri@ucla.edu, susiewasson@me.com, debbchurch@aol.com