Helen Andersen, a longtime Walnut Creek resident whose indomitable spirit and passion for nature, animals, and music, contributed to a long and noble life, died Nov. 10 in her sleep at the home where she lived for 64 years. She would have turned 95 on Christmas Day. Throughout her nine and a half decades, the white-haired maven maintained a zest forlife and love of learning that included everything from baseball to bridge. Although she didn’t hold a traditional 9-to-5 job, Helen made a career out of putting her life philosophy into practice: she didn’t believe in complaining, her strength was quiet but enduring andher convictions were rock solid. She believed people should see themselves as “limitless.” Whatever she loved -- Yosemite, dogs, poetry or her family -- she believed in unfailingly. Those closest to her said she never got angry. Born Dec. 25th 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio, Helen Van Fossen moved to Piedmont at the age of 4 and attended Oakland High School. The oldest child of Jennings Bryan Van Fossen, a sales manager and business professor, and Mary Ethel Gray, Helen was a bright student who eventually was accepted to UC Berkeley, but turned it down to work at the Oakland Tribune. She received her AA degree from Merritt College. Saying it paid better, she later worked during the war managing a gas station in Oakland, servicing cars as well as filling gas. She was life-long best friends with her younger brother, Jennings Bryan Van Fossen. In October of 1939, Helen saw a dashing young man at the Oakland Ski Club, and fell in love with him at first sight. Helen and Sophus Johannes Andersen married three years later. Her husband was called back to duty in the South Pacific, but returned in the summer of 1945, when the couple made their first home in Alameda. Soon after, together with their ski mates, they helped build the Oakland Ski Club lodge next door to Sugarbowl Ski Resort in Norden. In 1946, their son was born and soon after, they decided to make their home in unincorporated Walnut Creek on a tree-studded, nearly one-acre plot of land overlooking a creek. They had two daughters, in 1955 and 1960. They built not only their home there, but a magnificent tree house they shared. Even into her 80s, Helen would climb up to her treetop sanctuary to have her coffee every morning and read her newspapers and books. During the next several decades, they made many friends and were devoted contributors to their community. They were lifelong members and helped build the nearby Sun Valley Swimming Pool Association, and spent many happy days there watching their youngest daughter break records in swimming, or in later years, socializing with the many families they knew. Five of her grandchildren were on the swim team. For decades, Helen was a fixture at the pool during gate duty, with her portable radio broadcasting the Oakland A’s and reminding children not to run on the slick pool deck. When she wasn’t at the pool, she was playing bridge. Behind the scenes, she was a student of alchemy, metaphysics, nutrition and natural living. While other children ate Rice Krispies, Helen’s children ate whole grain toast with avocado and sunflower seeds. She loved all forms music, and was an accomplished piano player. Playing by ear, she mastered the accordion, the harmonica and even the kazoo. Always the student, she took up the trumpet at age 70. Helen wrote, recited and memorized poetry all her life, including her favorite, “Trees”, by Joyce Kilmer. She loved animals nearly as much as nature, caring for some 30 dogs in her lifetime, including the many strays she took in. She backpacked in the Trinity Alps, Tahoe & Yosemite, and provided over three decades of happy long summer trips there with her husband and children. For over two decades she took her children & grandchildren to Pajaro Dunes near Monterey, another favorite destination. Three of Helen’s favorite men preceded her in death -- her husband, Sophus Johannes Andersen in 1993; her brother Jennings Van Fossen in 1997 and her son, Robert Jennings Andersen in July, 2013. Her fifteen year old grandson, Emiliano E. Andersen also preceded her in death in 1985. Survivors include her daughters, Susan Eileen Collins of Martinez and Sandra Jean Andersen Wertanen, who cared for and shared the family home for nine years; grandchildren Theresa Andersen Carr, Michael Andersen, Sean Michael Vines, Aaron Jennings Vines, Casey Lee Rodgers, Samuel Johannes Wertanen, Jack Henry Miles Wertanen; and five great grandchildren; Favorite nieces and nephew Margaret Ellen Bird, Judy Hollar & John C. Bird Donations can be made to the Yosemite Fund, the Sierra Club, any Veterans organizations or Dog rescue foundations. All who wish to celebrate Helen’s life are invited to a remembrance gathering Sunday, November 16 from 2-5 p.m. at the family home, 51 Manzanita Court, Walnut Creek.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:15:49 +0000
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