St. Hilaire - Helen McKercher, 84, died Tuesday, January 6, 1998 at New Mexico.
Helen Goins was born on February 17, 1913 at International Falls, the daughter of Roscoe and Svea Goins. The youngest of four sisters and one brother, she vividly remembered a wonderful childhood that included the first cars of her father, riding motorcycle with her brother, skating with her siblings and her childhood dog, Buster.
She attended school in International Falls and later Bible school at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. She earned money for school by washing blankets for the lumberjack camp and noted that her father had to buy her mother a new washing machine when the work was done.
At Bible school, Helen met Emil Allerson, and the couple was married in 1936. Emil was a seminarian, and after they completed their studies, the couple served churches in the Colby, KS area until 1939 when they accepted a call to serve the Thomastown and Compton churches near Wadena. In 1944 they chose to serve the Big Falls and Margie churches near International Falls and in 1946 accepted a call to serve the Covenant Church in St. Hilaire. After Emil's death in 1949 Helen continued to lead the church for six months and then opened Helen's Cafe in St. Hilaire.
Helen met Irving McKercher, a long-time St. Hilaire area farmer, and they married in 1951. The couple farmed until Irving's death in 1976. Helen then lived in St. Hilaire and Thief River Falls but continued to spend her days on the farm. For the past year she has resided with her granddaughter in Espanola, NM.
Helen requested that no funeral service be held and that the money instead be given to the fight against muscular dystrophy as she prayed for a cure and miracle for her granddaughter.
She will be remembered at the Presbyterian Church in Red Lake Falls where Kathy Vatthauer will sing some of her favorite songs. Terry Skildum will remember her in prayers and song at Calvary Lutheran Church in St. Hilaire, and her long-time friend Helen Dahlstrom will remember her at the Covenant Church in Thief River Falls.
Because she touched people of many cultures and religions she is also being honored by them. The Koran will be read in its entirety in Teheran, Iran where Helen is being honored by the family of Toufigh Fazlollahi. Candles in her remembrance will be lit in Odessa in the Ukraine, and the Penitentes of Espanola are gathering to say the rosary in her honor.
A private service of song and scripture will be held by her immediate family at the Chimayo Presbyterian Church at Chimayo, NM. Wrapped in a shroud, Helen's body will be cremated and her ashes returned to Minnesota as she wished. Master craftsman and long-time friend Bob Pritchett is making an urn for her ashes.
Left to celebrate her life are her daughter, Alyce Pollick of St. Hilaire; granddaughter, Kristen Pollick of Espanola, NM; nieces and nephews including Ron McKercher of St. Hilaire and Don McKercher of Bemidji; and special friends, Agnes Olson of Thief River Falls and Louella Cease of Bagley.