Helen Walser Wells

Helen Walser Wells passed away April 16, 2023, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her ninety-two years were filled with adventure and rewarding experiences.

Helen was born November 12, 1930, in El Paso, Texas. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in Elementary Education, she taught grade school in Cedar City, Utah. She raised seven children, who gave her twenty-seven grandchildren and forty-four great-grandchildren. She lived in seven countries, spoke fluent Spanish, and was a concert pianist who played for audiences around the world.

Helen was an exemplary companion to her husband, Elder Robert E. Wells, a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served alongside him in numerous roles that required her special talents. She served as a devoted “mission mother” to her beloved missionaries in the Mexico Monterrey Mission (1968–1971) and a loving matron of the Santiago Chile Temple (1998–2001).
 
Of all the stories in Helen’s life, one in particular captures her exceptional character and courage. In 1962, while she was teaching in Utah, Robert was living in Paraguay as country manager of Citibank. A widower with three children, he had decided it was time to find a companion and a mother for his children. He made a list of twenty attributes that he wanted in a wife and sent it to friends and relatives, asking for introductions to eligible women when he returned to the States for a month. When he met Helen, Robert quickly realized that she was the only woman who met every requirement and then some.

They had a whirlwind romance, were engaged within ten days, married two weeks later, and immediately left for Paraguay, where she joined her three new children: Susan, Bob, and David. Previously married, Helen brought her daughter, Dana, into the new family, and together Helen and Robert had three more children: Sharlene, Elayne, and Janet. The couple worked hard to form a cohesive, happy, blended family and they created a loving, successful marriage that lasted for sixty years. Helen’s progeny and countless friends throughout the world will always remember her as a woman of faith, grace, integrity, intelligence, and wisdom. We will miss her greatly.

Helen is survived by her husband, Robert (95); her children, Susan (Grant Pace), Bob (Judy Daniels), David (Annette Pinnock), Dana (Peter Watkins), Sharlene, Elayne (David Harmer), and Janet (Michael Gunson); and her youngest sister, Melba (Keith Allan). Her parents, Alma and Asenath Walser, preceded her in death, as did seven of her siblings and her great-granddaughter Penny Grace Wells.

The family would like to thank the caring staff at The Ridge Cottonwood and Ashby Hospice for their kindness and loving service to Helen.

The funeral will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the Foxhill Ward Chapel, 200 S. Eagle Ridge Drive, North Salt Lake, Utah. Visitation will be 9:30–10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church prior to services. The family will also greet visitors from 6:00–8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 28, 2023, at Russon Mortuary, 295 N. Main Street, Bountiful, Utah.

Please click this URL to view services. https://zoom.us/j/98519102167?pwd=OVMyNWc0SFdhaW5CbWpNQVVvT0NXUT09 (https://zoom.us/j/98519102167?pwd=OVMyNWc0SFdhaW5CbWpNQVVvT0NXUT09)
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