1919
Helen
2015
Helen V. Christensen
September 14, 1919 — May 6, 2015
Harlingen, TX:
Helen Virginia Christensen, 95, passed peacefully on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 at the Windsor Atrium in Harlingen, Texas.
Helen was born on September 14, 1919 in Racine, Wisconsin to Carl and Sarah Swanson. She studied voice at the Wisconsin College of Music for six years, as well as journalism at the technical college, and wrote for the Racine Day/Labor Paper. She considered her crowning journalistic achievement to be an unscheduled interview she landed - on a dare - with Eleanor Roosevelt. Her interests and achievements were varied: Helen was a singer and choir director at Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Racine, where her Christmas Eve solo of “Oh Holy Night” was a treasured holiday tradition. She and her husband were long time members of Racine’s Meadowbrook Country Club. In addition, she was a beauty queen, pianist, actress in community theater, sports enthusiast, and poet, as well as learning to fly a 2-seater open-cockpit biplane in the late 1930s. After her husband Anker’s retirement in 1974, they moved to Harlingen, Texas, where he’d been stationed at the air force base during WWII. Helen continued contributing her musical talents at Grace Lutheran Church, where she sang, directed the choir, and was church organist. They were also long time members of Harlingen Country Club. She published two books of poetry, much of it celebrating the Rio Grande Valley and sailing adventures around Laguna Madre and South Padre Island. Last year she was inducted into the Harlingen Walk of Fame for being the First Harlingen Texas Poet Laureate for Life. We will miss her unending love and support, her sense of humor, her way with words, her tenacity, and her ever-youthful and positive outlook.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Carl (Bob), her sister, Florence (Toots), and her husband of 58 years, Anker Christensen.
Helen is survived by her son, Robert Christensen, daughter, Karin Hansen (Don), daughter, Eve Wallinga (Gary); four grandchildren, Dirk Christensen, Erik Christensen, Nissa Pearson, and Dane Wallinga, as well as nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank the caregivers at Canterbury Court and the Windsor Atrium.
A June Memorial and interment will be at West Lawn Memorial Park in Racine, Wisconsin.
For those desiring, memorial donations may be made to the Grace Lutheran Church, 1001 E. Jackson St., Harlingen, Texas 78550.
Helen Virginia Christensen, 95, passed peacefully on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 at the Windsor Atrium in Harlingen, Texas.
Helen was born on September 14, 1919 in Racine, Wisconsin to Carl and Sarah Swanson. She studied voice at the Wisconsin College of Music for six years, as well as journalism at the technical college, and wrote for the Racine Day/Labor Paper. She considered her crowning journalistic achievement to be an unscheduled interview she landed - on a dare - with Eleanor Roosevelt. Her interests and achievements were varied: Helen was a singer and choir director at Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Racine, where her Christmas Eve solo of “Oh Holy Night” was a treasured holiday tradition. She and her husband were long time members of Racine’s Meadowbrook Country Club. In addition, she was a beauty queen, pianist, actress in community theater, sports enthusiast, and poet, as well as learning to fly a 2-seater open-cockpit biplane in the late 1930s. After her husband Anker’s retirement in 1974, they moved to Harlingen, Texas, where he’d been stationed at the air force base during WWII. Helen continued contributing her musical talents at Grace Lutheran Church, where she sang, directed the choir, and was church organist. They were also long time members of Harlingen Country Club. She published two books of poetry, much of it celebrating the Rio Grande Valley and sailing adventures around Laguna Madre and South Padre Island. Last year she was inducted into the Harlingen Walk of Fame for being the First Harlingen Texas Poet Laureate for Life. We will miss her unending love and support, her sense of humor, her way with words, her tenacity, and her ever-youthful and positive outlook.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Carl (Bob), her sister, Florence (Toots), and her husband of 58 years, Anker Christensen.
Helen is survived by her son, Robert Christensen, daughter, Karin Hansen (Don), daughter, Eve Wallinga (Gary); four grandchildren, Dirk Christensen, Erik Christensen, Nissa Pearson, and Dane Wallinga, as well as nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank the caregivers at Canterbury Court and the Windsor Atrium.
A June Memorial and interment will be at West Lawn Memorial Park in Racine, Wisconsin.
For those desiring, memorial donations may be made to the Grace Lutheran Church, 1001 E. Jackson St., Harlingen, Texas 78550.
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