Helga Harris Obituary

Helga Harris

Helga Randine Harris (nee Weiby) age 89 of Menomonie passed away on Friday March 21, 2008 at the American Lutheran Home in Menomonie.

Memorial Services will be at 11 am on Tuesday March 25, 2008 at Fuller Speckien Hulke Funeral Home in Eau Claire. Pastor Daniel Maxton will officiate. Friends may visit at the funeral home on Tuesday morning from 10 am until the time of services. Burial will be in the Los Angeles National Cemetery at a later date.

Helga was born on October 5, 1918 in Lowell, MA and was the youngest and last remaining of seven children of the Anton and Carrie (Carlson) Weiby family of Erskine, Minnesota. She grew up in Erskine first attending a rural one- room elementary school and later graduating from Erskine High School. She was confirmed at Rodness Lutheran Church in Erskine. Her roots to Erskine stayed with her throughout her lifetime.

She obtained a teaching degree from Moorehead State Teacher’s College in 1939. She enjoyed teaching and taught first grade prior to her marriage, and later returned to teaching after rearing her children. She often mused about the endearing things her students did or said.

In 1945 she married William “Bill” A. Harris, of Savannah, GA. They lived their first year of married life on her family’s farm and then moved to Southern CA. The rest of her married life, with the exception of one year in Maryland, was spent either in El Segundo or Little Rock, CA where she raised a family, volunteered, worked and started her retirement years.

She was very active in church and community groups in El Segundo and was a long-time member of St. John’s Lutheran Church where she was active as a Sunday School teacher, VBS Superintendent, and in LWCA. She also was a Girl Scout Leader, and active in PTA and school committees, and the El Segundo/Guaymas exchange program.

For over 30 years she and Bill traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Central and South America, and Europe. She particularly enjoyed becoming acquainted with her parents’ country of origin, Norway, and getting to know relatives there. She loved words in many forms - word games, cross word puzzles, and reading. She enjoyed working on stamp collections. She had a reputation of being an excellent cook, and also sewed extensively. She supported the activities and sports her children and husband were in, attending many swim meets, bike races, or music performances. Through her, many Norwegian traditions were passed down to the next generation. She enjoyed music, being goofy and having fun, being a wife and a mother. She consistently displayed a love and concern of her husband, children and grandchildren. She had a quiet faith that was evident even recently.

For the past 27 years she loved being the grandmother to six grandchildren, often saying at their respective births, “She/he is the most beautiful child in the world, and that’s the truth!” She was a great supporter of college education, and one legacy of her’s was to support each grandchild’s higher education.

She was married for 47 years until the unexpected passing of her husband in 1992. Due to declining health she moved to Wisconsin in 2001 to be closer to her two daughters, and had lived in assisted living until April 2007.

She is survived by two twin daughters, Karen Flodquist (Charles) of Colfax, WI and Sharon Maxton (Daniel) of Rancho Bernardo, CA; and grandchildren Kristina (Geoff) Meissner, Little Canada, MN; Marc Flodquist, Minneapolis, MN; Katherine Flodquist, Colfax, WI; Jon (Kaaren) Maxton of Eau Claire, WI; Eric (Heather) Maxton, Gilbert, AZ; and Jacquelyn Maxton of Minneapolis, MN. Her husband, an infant son, William, her parents, and her siblings Alfred Weiby, Julius Weiby, Oscar Weiby, Alma Morrison, Anna Gustafson and Mabel Inman preceded her in death.

Friends and family may offer condolences online at www.fullerspeckien.com. Fuller-Speckien-Hulke Funeral Home, 3209 Rudolph Road, Eau Claire, WI (715) 832-5002 is assisting the family with the arrangements.