Helen Marie Eltzeroth's Obituary
Helen Marie Reder Eltzeroth died on January 21, 2022, in Leesburg, Virginia. She was 81. She leaves behind her sister Sharon, her daughters Jo, Shelly and Becky, her son Jake, and her grandchildren Kaitlin, Reid, Chase, Natalie and Lia. She also leaves behind many nieces and nephews, lots of extended family and scores of special friends.
Helen was a small woman who leaves a very big hole behind. She was fearless and passionate and loyal and opinionated, and we will miss her dreadfully. She was a success in business in a time that was not kind to women, primarily by just ignoring attempts at discrimination, and she paved the way for many women who came after her. After a career as a senior executive in banking, she earned a Master’s degree and launched a new career as a policy-side gerontologist. Just in case that wasn’t enough, she went on to write a book in her 70’s.
Helen reared four children on her own, in many different physical houses but always providing an abiding sense of home. Her interests were many and varied, and she pursued them with sometimes comically limited success but with 100% commitment. She laughed often and easily, and frequently at herself. She was forever dragging family and friends and acquaintances into adventures, often over their protests. She loved new places and new people,and was a constant traveler. She would probably like it noted that only Spain serves coffee hot enough for her; France and Italy, take note.
Helen was a lifelong athlete: a swimmer, a tennis player, a runner, a skier, a hiker; she found joy in movement and sports suited her restless spirit. She was justifiably proud of running the Marine Corps Marathon, her first, at 50. She was both ferociously competitive and a graceful loser.
She was the first to drop everything and ride to the rescue for both big and small crises in the lives of her family and friends. She was a master of the stupid celebration of life’s successes. If you ever needed a cheerleader with a silly sign or a really bad poem, she was your woman. She set staggeringly high standards for herself, and always strove to meet her definition of a good human being.
We will be planning a celebration of her life in the spring, when we can gather safely outdoors. If you would like to ensure you are notified of plans, please drop us a note on [email protected].
To honor her life conventionally, she would appreciate a charitable donation in lieu of flowers. If you would like to really honor her, go for a walk in the woods with a friend and laugh about something goofy she did.
She loved the Appalachian Trail and had many happy times there. She was a daughter of the flat lands, but mountains spoke to her soul.
https://tinyurl.com/AppTrailCons
Helen was also troubled by child hunger and volunteered in this area when she was able.
https://www.bbfloudoun.org/how-to-help
“When I think about dying, what I mind most is leaving family and friends and a world that I think is wonderful. But one thing I know is that we will all die, and somehow that is comforting to me. I don’t think dying will be bad. It’s like completing a favorite book that you don’t want to end. Sometimes, we imagine continuing the characters in the book in new directions, and I think that is how death will be. I just don’t know what adventures await.”
I Know Nothing But... by Helen Eltzeroth
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