Helen T. Selover Grubb

Helen Theodora Selover Grubb was 17 when she scored 99 points to win the honor of Healthiest Girl in Kimball County and went on to compete in the state contest. Little did she know that she'd be around to tell the story 86 years later!

She was always a leader and a teacher, teaching kindergarten through eighth grade students (often one student in each grade) for several years in rural Districts 28, 16 and 24--when she was right out of high school herself. Her students included her own sisters and brother. She was also a Sunday School teacher, 4-H leader, piano teacher, and active leader in a multitude of community and church organizations throughout the years. It's remarkable that she was still inspiring others at age 104!

Helen Selover was born at her grandparents' home near York, Nebraska on April 13, 1912, to Edward Arlington Selover and Blanche Frances Hiatt Selover. Ed was homesteading in Sidney draw while Blanche stayed with her parents for the birth. Their letters back and forth were written over the course of several days; Ed learned of the birth of his first daughter at the very end of one of Blanche's letters, as he relaxed with his feet in the wood stove to keep warm! The big international news was the sinking of the Titanic on April 15.

The Selover family soon moved to a farm south of Kimball. Helen graduated from Kimball County High School in 1930. In 1933 she married Kenneth Grubb, and they farmed south of Kimball. In 1959 they moved into Kimball, where she remained until moving to Portland, Oregon to be with her daughter and family in 2000.

After Kenneth passed away in 1973, Helen found time to travel, making several trips to the Santa Fe Opera with friends, as well as joining group tours to Israel, the South Pacific, Britain, a Caribbean Cruise, and more. She was also an avid quilter, crocheter, family historian, bell collector and volunteer.

After moving to Portland, she joined a quilting group much like the Kimball Friendship Center quilters, and continued quilting until her eyesight wouldn't allow it. After living several years with her daughter and son-in-law, she lived her last years at Firwood Gardens in Portland, where she was much admired and loved by her fellow residents and staff. Her most often-shared pieces of advice were, "Think!" "Enjoy!" and "Keep trying!" That and liberal amounts of M&Ms (Grandma vitamins) kept her going until four days after her 104th birthday.

Helen passed away on April 17, 2016, having hung on tenaciously until her birthday and beyond.

Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Steve Thomson of Portland; grandson Jonathan and his wife Theresa Thomson of Portland; and granddaughter Carrie Thomson of Morocco. She is survived by her brother Marion Selover, Sr., of Payette, Idaho, as well as many nieces and nephews and their families. She was pre-deceased by her parents, husband, and sisters Frances Sumner and Maxine Sohus.

A memorial service will be held at Firwood Gardens in Portland, Oregon, and a funeral service in Kimball, Nebraska on June 15, 2016. Memorial donations in Helen's honor may be made to the Trinity United Methodist Church Bell Choir or Kimball Friendship Center Quilting Group.

Omega Funeral & Cremation in Portland and Cantrell Funeral Home in Kimball are handling arrangements. Helen will be buried next to her husband, Kenneth, in the Kimball Cemetery.