Helen Easterbrook

EASTERBROOK-Helen, a charter resident of the Heritage Legacy in Sun City West, Arizona, passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 19th 2007 at 8:30 p.m. She was born Helen Louise Marsh in 1917 in Cowls, Nebraska and grew up in neighboring Hastings, the daughter of Jesse Mortimer Marsh, who painted houses, and Laura Holland Marsh, who painted pictures. The household was full of music, too; Laura was a piano teacher, and the whole family sang. Helen graduated from High School in 1935. A gifted student, she won a scholarship to Hastings College, where she took her B.A. in 1938, majoring in English, which she began teaching immediately upon graduation. It was at Hastings College that she met Carl Easterbrook, whom she married in 1940. The daughter of one music teacher, she was now the wife of another. The couple sang together at home and in church; he was an operatic tenor, she a rich alto. Following 1940, the family moved frequently wherever Carl's work required. During the war, he participated in a stateside program growing potatoes for the troops; postwar, he launched a career teaching music. Wherever the Easterbrooks lived, Helen taught English. By 1959, she had taught all over Nebraska, in Guide Rock, Blue Hill, Fullerton, Arcadia and Loup City. In 1959, when Carl joined the music faculty of what is today the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Helen took classes there, received an M.A. in Latin and English in 1961, and began teaching there as well. From '63 to '65, Carl took a leave of absence from UNK to get his doctorate in music education at the University of Northern Colorado. This added one more teaching job to Helen's resume: University High School in Greeley, CO. The family then returned to Kearney, where Carl and Helen rejoined the UNK faculty and settled down for their first long stay in one place. In Kearney, she began to do volunteer work. She joined P.E.O. and remained active in various chapters throughout her life, serving variously as Parliamentarian, Recording Secretary, Vice President and President. She also served as President of the Alpha Phi Alumni Association and was a member of the Faculty Wives. When UNK's enrollment dipped in 1972, the school was forced to lay off many faculty members, among them Helen. Suddenly, she found herself forced into what looked to be permanent retirement. In a transition that surprised even her, Helen entered a business where her only previous experience had been as a customer: banking. At the invitation of her neighbor, Wayne McKinney, she joined the Trust Department of the Platte Valley State Bank. Soon she was the Trust Administration Officer, a position that earned her membership in the National Association of Bank Women and a listing in "Who's Who of American Women in Banking." She remained at the bank for eleven years. Helen and Carl both retired in 1984. They started spending winters in Sun City West, and in 1994 they made Arizona their home. In Sun City West, the music that had been Carl's profession became a full-time avocation for both of them. He began singing as tenor soloist and tenor section leader with local church choirs, and Helen was always nearby in the alto section. Their longest engagements were with the First Presbyterian Church in Sun City, with the West Valley Chorale (formerly the Symphonic Chorus) and with the Arizona Masterworks Chorale, with which they toured, once to Europe, once to Latin America and twice - the crowning achievement - to sing at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Carl also composed and produced operas and cast them with local talent. It went without saying that Helen was always his alto lead. Her performing stopped when a stroke in 2004 slowed her down. Needing advanced care, she moved to the Heritage Legacy. After Carl passed away in December of 2005, Helen characteristically threw herself into her new world. She became an active resident council member of the Legacy. And, though wheelchair bound, she visited regularly with friends, played to win in the daily Bingo games and never missed the nightly movies on the big-screen TV. In her last weeks, she was confined to her bed, drifting in and out of awareness. Two years and ten days after Carl's passing, she followed him. A group carolers was singing outside her door. The last words she heard were, "Sleep in heavenly peace." She is survived by a daughter, Leslie Easterbrook, an actress, a son-in-law, Daniel Wilcox, a writer, and her sisters Connie Woller of Sutton, NE, and Millie Reynolds of Redmond, WA. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made in Helen's name to The NU Foundation, Carl and Helen Easterbrook Scholarship Fund, 214 W. 39th St., Kearney, NE 68847. We assume Helen has joined Carl in the heavenly choir, he the tenor soloist, she a stalwart of the alto section, the two still creating the harmony that infused their sixty-four year marriage with love, joy and creativity.
Memorial service will be held Wednesday, January 9th at 1 p.m. at The Heritage Legacy, 13813 W. Woodside Dr., Sun City West, AZ.