Helen Irene Dufford
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 8 B Notice - May 19, 2012
Helen Irene Dufford, 86, Grand Junction, died May 13, 2012, at
Hospice Care Center.
Services will be at 12:03 p.m. May 31 at First United Methodist
Church. A reception will follow from 1 to 5 p.m. at Sherwood Park.
Survivors include one son, Kyle of Grand Junction; two daughters,
Andrea Dufford of Grand Junction and Judy Carlon of Lebanon,
Ore.; and two grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist
Church Music Library Fund.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D - May 27, 2012
Helen Irene Dufford of Grand
Junction, CO died Sunday, May
13, 2012, at the Hospice Care
Center. She was 86 years of age.
Helen was born June 24, 1925,
at Glenwood Springs, CO to Jesse
and Ruth (Jenkinson McLearn)
Reeves. She attended grades K-8
in Glenwood Springs and graduated
in 1943 from Aspen High
School. Helen received an academic scholarship to Mesa Junior
College and received her Associate Degree in Business Administration.
She received another academic scholarship to CU in Boulder
and was one of the first women to whom the scholarship was
awarded. She attended CU for one and one half years and was coming
home after summer session when she was in a car wreck and
shattered her leg from the hip to the knee.
Due to her long recovery, Helen was unable to renew her scholarship
to CU and took a job as a clerk with the United States Grazing
Service (Department of Agriculture). She was promoted and transferred
to Montrose, then to Durango as a district clerk. Helen was
hired by Shell Oil as a district clerk and treasury representative and
somewhere during this time she met Bill Dufford on a blind date to a
Christmas Party.
Helen married Bill in Grand Junction in 1949. They have three
children, Judith E. Carlon and her husband, Michael of Lebanon,
OR; Andrea R. Dufford of Fruita, CO, and Kyle and his wife, Angie
Dufford of Grand Junction, CO, and two grandchildren, Lindsay and
Emily. They survive Helen. Her husband, Bill, died August 13,
1990, at Grand Junction and her brother, Harold Reeves also predeceased
her.
While her children were still young, Helen earned a position on the
Board of Mesa College for 12 years.
She had been a member of the First United Methodist Church since
1949. She enjoyed playing tennis and played every Friday with her
girlfriends until the age of 80. She also enjoyed Bridge Club, singing
in the church choir and being a swimming referee.
Helen is loved so dearly by her children. For all her time at horse
shows and little league baseball fields, the endless hours of driving
to swimming meets, all the sport events she never missed and for
always being the strong woman in their lives as they continue to
grow. "Nana Duff", as she is called by her granddaughters, Lindsay
and Emily, is a wonderful and strong woman who lived a life of
giving to others.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday, May 31, 2012, at
12:03 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Grand Junction.
A reception will follow at Sherwood Park from 1 - 5:00 p.m.
Memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist
Church Music Library Fund at 522 White Avenue, Grand Junction,
CO 81501.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of Callahan-Edfast
Mortuary & Crematory.
