Obituary Aug. 1

An informal interment is 10:30 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Antelope Valley Cemetery in Coleville for Helen D. Silvester, 89, a lifelong resident of Coleville. Mrs. Silvester died July 22, 2008, at a hospital in Roseville, Calif., with immediate family members at her side.

Born the youngest of four girls on Aug. 26, 1918, in Fords, N.J., to Stephen and Elizabeth Deak, Mrs. Silvester was the first member of her family to graduate from high school.

She worked for several years in the insurance industry in Newark, N.J., which is where she met Coleville resident Lyle Silvester, who was completing aircraft mechanic training for the U.S. Air Force.

They were married Oct. 5, 1944, in Sebring, Fla., where Lyle was initially stationed before being deployed to Italy for the balance of World War II.

Mrs. Silvester then traveled by train to begin her transformation from a city girl to rancher's wife. She lived with her in-laws George and Anna Silvester on their cattle ranch in Antelope Valley until Mr. Silvester's discharge in 1945.

She then lived in a home she and Lyle built on the 69 Ranch in Antelope Valley for the next 58 years, where they raised their two sons, Gerry and Kevin.

She worked at various times clerking for Judge Arthur DeChambeau in Bridgeport and for the Coleville postmaster. After the death of her husband in 1995, she found her most loved job as the oldest Mono County volunteer for the second grade at Antelope Union Elementary School. In addition to her ranch duties, she was an avid reader and loved to cook.

She was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Gardnerville and an active member of the Antelope Valley Women's Club.

Mrs. Silvester lived in Citrus Heights, Calif., for the past five years to be near her son, Kevin.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and sisters Louise Baumgartner, Ethel Swale, and Grace Kudron, and husband Lyle.

Mrs. Silvester is survived by her sons Kevin of Citrus Heights and Gerry and his wife Margaret (Peggy) of Boise, Idaho; granddaughters Kimberly of Meridian, Idaho, and Karen and her husband Tech. Sgt. Rennie Onders of Biloxi, Miss.; great-grandson Malachi Onders; special niece Barbara Brandt and husband William and their children Debra Brandt, Robert and wife Elizabeth Brandt, and Billy Brandt; and other nephews and nieces.

The family welcomes anyone wishing to attend.