Helen Marie Bollen, 77, of Coupeville, passed away on Oct. 26, 2011, at the Cottage by the Cove Adult Family Home.
Mrs. Bollen was born in Los Angeles on May 21, 1934, to Raymond and Leonora Marie (De Vincenzi) Varnum. She attended UCLA for three years. On Aug. 24, 1955, Helen married Jack Ray Bollen in Hollywood, Calif. The couple enjoyed a marriage of 48 years.
Helen and Jack raised their family in Hacienda Heights, Calif. Helen served in the Hacienda Heights Christian Church as secretary, Sunday school teacher, children’s choir director and host of a home Bible study. During this time, she was also employed as a freelance court transcriber and secretary at Cal Poly Pomona. They lived briefly in Iran, immediately prior to the overthrow of the Shah. They then moved to Fairfax County, Va., where Helen began working as a secretary at TRW. She attended Calvary Christian Church and served there as the children’s choir director and host of a home Bible study.
The next move was to Lawndale, Calif., where Helen worked as an executive secretary at TRW. She served in the University Christian Church, where she also helped lead home Bible studies. Helen and Jack then made their retirement home in Sequim where they served in the Dungeness Community Church, leading and participating in Sunday and weekday Bible classes, missions committee and visiting new members. Following Jack’s death in 2004, Helen moved to Whidbey Island, to be closer to family. She continued to be faithful in attending church and Bible studies through Christ the King churches in Oak Harbor and Coupeville.
Helen’s life is a testament to gracious living. She opened her home and her heart to college students, kids and adults, always sharing good food, encouraging words and the grace of Christ. Though she never finished college due to the arrival of children, she used her many skills to organize, simplify and make sure others had what was needed for their job. She and Jack supported their four kids through college and beyond as life took them in many different directions. The custom of a family reunion every few years was her way of holding that far-flung group together, and it extended to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She fought her 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease and diabetes with uncomplaining grace and dignity, along with a firm hope in Christ.
Helen was always a cheerful presence on any project. Her love of music shone through, too, from car sing-alongs to major kids choir productions, cantatas to caroling. Her pot roast and apple pie were four-star, and gardening was one of her passions. Most of all, she and Jack loved to share the Bible, to study it with others, to see a deeper understanding blossom in people’s hearts. Wherever they went, they took this as one of their first tasks: find a church and start a Bible study. Helen even helped urge her assisted living facility to start on-site church services there for her fellow seniors, and up to the last few weeks of her life she was faithfully attending Bible study in Oak Harbor.
Helen is survived by her children and their spouses: two sons, Greg Bollen (Ginette) of Malaga, Spain and Dave Bollen (Michelle) of Grass Valley, Calif.; two daughters, Laurel Jew (Randy) of Santa Rosa, Calif. and Ann Jaques (Don) of Oak Harbor; ten grandchildren; one great-grandchild; also, her sister, Nancy Lindgren of Placerville, Calif.
Private interment will take place at Tahoma National Cemetery. A memorial service will be at Oak Harbor Christian Reformed Church on Friday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m., Pastor Todd King of Christ the King Church officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to Frontiers: www.frontiersusa.org/site/PageNavigators/give/give; or to the National Parkinson’s Foundation: www.parkinson.org/. Family and friends are encouraged to visit whidbeymemorial.com.
