Deflection

It was a nice day today, with the sun shining and the temperature at 39 degrees, but there was a wind blowing. As I was on my way to Dee’s funeral, I drove over the causeway between Sabula, Iowa and Savanna, Illinois, I know that I saw over 500 bald eagles. Since the 1970s, they have really made a come back. But, with the funeral today, it seemed like the eagles were standing watch for the funeral.

For those of you that are not Helle’s, my dad is one of 39 cousins that run from the age of 94, my uncle, to 65. Dee was the wife of Vernon Helle, with his farther being Walter and my grandmother’s younger brother. About 18 years ago, my dad’s cousin Barbra Lou told me that the Helle reunions had state up again and that I should come to them. So, I did. The Helle family is very warm, and can be felt by others. After a few reunions, Dee and I hit it off. Therefore, at every family meeting, Dee and I would talk to each other for at last a half and hour like there was no one else around, despite then fact that there was always a medium sized group. But, as her three daughters will tell anyone, this was Dee. She came in this warm family and she was just as warm as the rest of us, so she fit right into the family. Furthermore, it was not just me that she spent time talking to for a long period of time, it was everyone. That is just the way that she was, and she was respected for her warmth and caring of others.

It is sad, but my dad’s generation is disappearing one at a time However, by looking at the age of the cousin’s, just less than half of them are still around, if I have counted correctly.

By looking at future family meetings, Dee will be missed, since her warmth, like Great Grandma Helle’s, was infectious. As a life long Catholic, her personality was solid with a warmth that was held together. In Dee’s three daughters, everyone can feel the warmth that Dee instilled in to them, and everyone can feel the warmth of being a Helle. Everyone felt Dee’s warmth.

Roger