elen Virginia Glenn Foreman, 92, long time Anchorage, Alaska, resident, died in the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2015, at Alaska Regional Hospital. To those who knew her, she embodied the determination of the human will. At her request, there will be no memorial service. Helen was born in Tulsa, Okla., to school teacher Elizabeth Schauer of Hollabrunn, Austria, and South Carolina-born World War I Naval Aviation veteran Verner Clive (V.C.) Glenn. Her father, a carpenter by trade, followed available work to Petersburg, Mich., when Helen was still a toddler. When Helen was 8, the now family of four moved to Travis County, Texas, finally settling in Bay City, Texas, later that year. A true child of the depression, Helen maintained a paper route during her youth, as well as working in and around the family businesses (which included People's Exchange, a wet and dry goods store, and the Wishy Washy laundromat). A top student, Helen graduated from Bay City High School in 1939. While working in the office at the Bay City Rice Mill, Helen met and fell in love with Oliver "Ollie" Foreman, who not only graded rice, but also worked as the night millwright and was in charge of machinery maintenance. On Feb. 8, 1942, Helen married Ollie in a private early Sunday morning ceremony at First Methodist Church parsonage in Bay City. After Oliver's U.S. and Canadian Air Corps enlistment attempts failed, the couple moved to California to work in the defense industry. Helen worked as a payroll clerk at North American and Oliver worked as an electrician at Douglas Aircraft. An article in Alaska Sportsman Magazine led Oliver to seek civilian employment with the Army Air Corps in Alaska, arriving in Anchorage in early 1944. After her travel papers were issued in July of the same year, Helen arrived on a Grumman Goose to join Oliver in their new home. While Ollie ran the Instrument Shop at Elmendorf, Helen worked in the Office of The USARAL Comptroller at Ft. Richardson. She continued there until the early 1950s, retiring to try and start a family in the couple's new home atop Romig Hill. Before son David's birth in 1955, Helen volunteered at First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage, was involved from the beginning with Romig Park Improvement Company (a private water system) and was among the group of individuals responsible for assigning corresponding address numbers to all pieces of real property in the Anchorage suburb of Spenard. She later took the initiative to continue her education with courses at Anchorage Community College and Alaska Methodist University. This helped her in her role as co-owner and comptroller of the family's electrical contracting and residential housing businesses, in which she was still involved at the time of her death. Helen volunteered with various community organizations, served as an Ordained Deacon at First Presbyterian Church and was, for many years, Secretary of Romig Park Improvement Company, Inc. Preceded in death by her brother, Jack H. Glenn; her sister, Ruthie Glenn Lovett; and her loving husband of 67 years, Oliver. Helen is survived by son, David; daughter-in-law, Penny Ann Trow-Foreman; and grandson, Reed. The family thanks the caring owners and staff of Serenity Circle Assisted Living, where Helen resided for her final year. For those she has touched, the family requests that you remember her in your prayers. Continuing her desire to help others, her body was donated to MedCure for medical research. In lieu of traditional donations, please consider organ, tissue or whole body donor registration.

Published by Anchorage Daily News on Jan. 13, 2015.