Helen (Misun) Ehlinger passed away peacefully at Portland Adventist Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. Her family would like to thank the staff at Portland Adventist and the caregivers at her residence, Avamere at Cascadia Village in Sandy, Oregon.
Helen was born in Moquah, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of George A. Misun and Annie Pagac and was one of their 15 children. Helen grew up helping her parents on their family farm and after graduation from high school she moved to Chicago and worked in a department store. She later moved to Cleveland and worked for General Motors for three years before moving to Oregon. Living in Moiser, Oregon, Helen met her husband, David Ehlinger and they were married. Helen gave birth to her son David in Hood River, Oregon.
Helen moved with her husband to New Mexico where she gave birth to her daughter, Deborah and then to Arizona where she gave birth to her daughter, Rebecca and son, Patrik. Helen returned to Oregon in 1967 and has lived in Lake Oswego, where the family lived in the original Lake Oswego post office down the street from the famous “Peg Tree”, Estacada and eventually Sandy, Oregon.
Throughout her life, Helen was an advocate for learning and reading and actively donated to several native American Indian associations: St. Bonaventyre Indian Mission and School https://www.stbonaventuremission.org or Running Strong for American Indian Youth https://indianyouth.org.
Helen was a grandmother of four grand-daughters and a great-grandmother of five. She is survived by her son David Ehlinger and his wife Kathy Warner, daughter Debbie Hershey and her husband Tom, daughter Rebecca Janzon and her husband Hans and her son Patrik Ehlinger and his wife Sara.