Helen Edith Johnson

Helen was born in Illinois to Eugene and Hazel Ostrander and grew up there and in Wisconsin. She graduated from Arbor Vitae-Woodruff High School in Woodruff, WI, in the North Woods, where she helped her parents run a guest lodge and thoroughly enjoyed her high school years. She met and married Roy in her sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They lived briefly in Kansas City, where Helen completed her bachelor’s degree in education.

She and Roy moved to Albuquerque in 1966 when Roy became a professor of Civil Engineering at UNM. Helen earned a master’s degree in education and studied toward a PhD at UNM, gaining educational administrative certification. With the Albuquerque Public Schools, Helen substitute taught, then taught earth science full-time at Madison Middle School, eventually becoming an Assistant Principal and Principal at Kennedy and Grant Middle Schools. Helen loved her career.

After retirement, Helen volunteered with the Albuquerque Public Library and served as a docent and docent coordinator with the Albuquerque Museum. Helen believed in keeping her brain active, so took several levels of Spanish and participated in conversational groups. She continued to enjoy friendships, family, grandchildren, neighbors, and world travel, particularly enjoying a Greek Isles cruise, among many other trips. She and Roy traveled to seven continents. Together, they wrote books about their travels, researched and published their genealogies, and wrote their own autobiographies.

Helen is survived by her two daughters, Linnea (Jim) Sands and Amy (Garrett) Acoya, and grandsons, Matthew, Luke, Herschel, and Christian.

A celebration of life is scheduled. Please get in touch with Linnea at [email protected] for more information.