SARAH HELEN CONOVER
1916 – 2011

Helen Conover passed away peacefully at the age of 94, surrounded by family on April 25, 2011 in Coeurd’Alene, Idaho.  On May 14th at 2pm her friends and family will honor her life and celebrate her faith at Living Faith Fellowship in Pullman.

She was born Sarah Helen Davies, August 7, 1916 in Seattle.  Her father was Charles Houghton Davies, an English seaman; her mother, Sarah Blanche Williams Davies, was a Seattle pioneer.  The three younger children of the family were Dorothy Mary, Ella June, and a brother, William. 

Helen’s fondest childhood memories were from the short time her family lived on the prairie above Culdesac, Idaho during the Great Depression.  The three sisters rode horses to school, sometimes through deep snow, which later was a story good for the retelling to children and grandchildren alike.  Her family returned to Seattle in time for Helen to graduate from Franklin High School in 1935.

About ten years later friends introduced her to Dick Conover.  He was a printer, a boat builder, an avid reader and loved music.  They married in 1949, lived in Renton, WA and had two daughters, Patty and Cathy.  Helen was a homemaker most of her adult life, but worked at Boeing in the 1940s, and later was a print shop assistant for Dick.   She particularly enjoyed sewing, church activities, canning fruit and making jelly, baking pies, shopping at the Bon Marche, and times with extended family.

Helen was an active member of the Renton First Baptist Church and later Living Faith Fellowship, in Pullman.  She served in many ways and enjoyed the fellowship of Bible studies, worship services and service projects.  

Helen loved children; especially grandchildren.  She came to Pullman several times a year to spend time with her young grandchildren in the 1980s.  They were always warm and well-dressed thanks to her sewing skills and the month-end clearance sales she never missed.  

After his retirement in 1988, Dick and Helen left Renton and lived in Wenatchee near his sister, Mary Pashinski.  In 1992, they relocated in Pullman; closer to Patty and Cathy.  They lived in a home built for them by son-in-law Larry Gropp.  Dick passed away in June of 1993, just days before their 44th anniversary.  In the years that followed, Helen kept busy being a top-notch grandma, taking care of her dog, gardening, baking pies, tending her collection of African violets, and participating in church activities.

Helen is survived by two daughters, two grandchildren and two siblings.  

Daughters: 
Cathy Conover, Riggins, ID. 
Patty Gropp and her husband Larry, Pullman WA 
Grandchildren: 
Katie Lierman and her husband Blair, Bellevue, WA.  
Kyle Gropp and his wife Keidy, Roseville, CA.    
Siblings: 
Dorothy DeBoer and Bill Davies, both of Kingston, WA. 

She was preceded in death by her parents her husband of 44 years; Richard A. Conover and a sister, Ella June Bissell.