Harlan H. Helmers

A Memorial will be held 10:00 AM on Monday February 13, 2023 at First Presbyterian Church 800 Jefferson Sreet Kerrville, Texas, for Harlan H. Helmers ,84, of Kerrville, Texas who passed from this life on Sunday, December 25, 2022 in San Antonio.

Harlan Helmers was born in 1938 and grew up in Algona, Iowa, a small town not far from the Minnesota line. His father worked for a local lumber company, and the family were members of the Presbyterian Church. Only after the end of World War II did the family acquire electricity.

Harlan and his two brothers knew the value of work from an early age. They did chores for a nearby family with considerable livestock. The Helmers boys fed the pigs, chickens, horses, and dogs and stoked the furnace.  Saturdays saw Harlan hauling horse manure to the local greenhouse and fetching a week’s worth of grain from the elevator. The boys also regularly helped an uncle with his farm nearby, using a horse and hay rack to thrash oats.

In time, Harlan moved on to lawns and managed 20 of them by the time he was eleven. Winter replaced lawn mowing with sidewalk shoveling. The owner of a grocery store noticed his steady efforts and talked him into working in that business before and after school and on Saturday for the princely sum of $8 a week! A competitor soon grabbed him up for twice that amount, paying him 65 cents an hour. Eventually, he and the second owner became partners in an additional store and in trailer rental and sales.

In the early 1950s, Harlan completed two years of university study (he liked the clarity of Accounting) and Joined the National Guard. After completing his service, he left Iowa in 1964 and was employed for eighteen years t Brown & Root. He worked on projects at various sites and eventually became Administrative Manager in the Eastern Hemisphere Marine Services Division. However, with the economic decline in the 1980s, Harlan found himself laid off like thousands of others.

In 1975, Harlan had passed through Kerrville and declared it the “nicest and prettiest place in Texas.” He ended up moving here in 1982 and for years worked in motor home and phone sales. He also put in many hours with Habitat for Humanity. In 2019, he became a member of First Presbyterian Church, where he served regularly as usher and was on the Board of Deacons. The Church was happy to have another Iowan. After all, no less than Meredith Wilson reminded us that these are folks who will “give you their shirt and their back to go with it” in a crisis.

A memorial service will be 10:00 AM Monday February 13, 2023 at First Presbyterian Church 800 Jefferson Street Kerrville, Texas

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Kerrville Funeral Home.  (830) 895-5111