Helen Marguerite Elliott

1941 - 2023

Helen Marguerite Beebe Elliott left this world for the next on February 9, 2023.  She had just passed her eighty-second birthday.

Helen was born on January 28, 1941 in Fortuna, CA.  She was the third of four children and during her early childhood, she enjoyed living on a small piece of land with her family near Camp Grant.  She fondly shared stories of their cow, Ginger, their pigs, and their chickens.  She lost her father in 1950 and in 1955, the family home in South Fork was destroyed by the flood of the Eel River.  The family endured and the tenacity with which they did so was deeply part of Helen’s being. 

During her late childhood and teens, she often helped her mother, a rural mail carrier, sort and deliver mail throughout the area surrounding Weott, CA.  After graduating South Fork High School, she stayed with her older brother and his wife for a time, where she helped care for her nieces and nephews.

Upon her return, she met her future husband, Fred Elliott, at a dance.  She said she remembered looking out at the stars and thinking how beautiful they were when Fred walked up and said she was looking at him.  She said she wasn’t, but from that moment until his death in 2003, she did so and he, her.  They had a beautiful wedding in 1967 and began their married life in Scotia, CA. where Fred worked for Pacific Lumber.  Helen then gave birth to two sons and after Fred retired, they moved to Rio Dell, where she lived until shortly before her passing.

Helen was unique in many ways, not the least of which was her uncanny ability to remember dates – including all the dates of birth of her entire extended family.  She enjoyed dancing and creating her art.  She enjoyed remembering her life and telling stories of her past and passing on what she had learned.  It can truly be said that Helen lived her life to her very best. 

Helen is preceded in death by her husband, Fred William Elliott, Sr.; her mother, Martha Dora Barnes Beebe Etherington; her father, Claude Wendell Beebe; her brother, Brian Curtis Beebe; her sister, Barbara Jean Claudette Beebe Dickson; her brother, Stanley Powell Houghton; and her grandson, Dale Otto Elliott-Lewis.  She is survived by her two sons, Edward and Fred Jr., her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and her many nieces and nephews, who love her and remember her with deep fondness.

“In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night…”

            Antione de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince