Baker City, Oregon
Helen Caroline Pearson, 93, a lifelong Baker City resident, died Nov. 12, 2002, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center.
Recitation of the rosary will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral, First and Church streets. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Monday at the cathedral. The Rev. Rob Irwin of the Catholic Church will officiate. Vault interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Friends and relatives are invited to join the family for a luncheon after the service at the Parish Hall.
Visitations will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave.
Helen Caroline Pearson was born Nov. 9, 1909, to Charles H. and Edna L. Colton at Baker City, where she lived her entire life.
She taught school for 43 years, mostly in the one-room schoolhouses throughout Baker County. It was necessary in those days to arrive much earlier than her students in order to warm and ready the building for the day.
Helen completed her teaching career at Keating where she taught for many years. She received her education at Southern Oregon Normal School in Ashland (now Southern Oregon University) and at Eastern Oregon Normal School (now Eastern Oregon University) in La Grande.
She enjoyed her students very much and worked hard at doing a good job. She had no children of her own, but many nephews would spend the summer at their ranch helping with the work and being treated to fishing trips at Eagle Creek. Many family outings were spent on the Snake River water skiing and picnicking.
Helen married Floyd Pearson on Jan. 1, 1931, at Baker City. He died in 1983.
Survivors include her three sisters, Viola Gaddis, LaVelle Long and Patricia Culley, and a sister-in-law, Doris Colton, all of Baker City; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; two brothers, Charles and Walter Colton; and a sister, Hildreth Lindley.
Memorial contributions may be made to The Covenant House, St. Francis Food Bank or a charity of one’s choice through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, November 15, 2002
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor