Obituary
Helen Lorraine Keller, 101, died on July 10, 2026 at Rosewood Park Assisted Living, Hillsboro, OR. She was born in Kalama, WA to parents George M. Keller and Clara Tideman Keller and was named after her two grandmothers, Helen Woodin Keller and Laurine Carson Tideman.
Her early years were spent in several towns in Washington state (Republic, Leavenworth, and Rockford) where her father was an educator, coach, and superintendent of public schools. She later grew up on the family dairy farm in Redmond, WA, and graduated from Redmond High School in 1943 alongside her favorite cousin, Fred Keller. As a teenager, she enjoyed attending Lake Sammamish Bible Camp, and accepted Christ as her Savior there.
In 1948, Helen graduated from Prairie Bible Institute (now Prairie College) in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada, where she sang with the choir. Her brief moment of fame came when some of her solos with the choir were broadcast over the local radio. The following year she attended the Biola School of Missionary Medicine in Los Angeles.
She married William Snyder, also a PBI graduate, in 1951, and together they worked as Christian missionaries in Bombay, India for two years. In 1953 they returned to the United States. Helen graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, in 1965, and worked for a number of years in Oregon and Montana as an elementary school teacher and a realtor.
She had a lifelong interest in fitness and health, and had many pithy sayings, such as: “If it’s good for you, you can eat it.” That one was usually directed at her grandchildren.
Helen’s parents and three siblings, Dona Jean, George “Mel”, and Audrey, and former husband William Snyder predeceased her. She is survived by her three children, Timothy, David, and Dona; 11 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
A family celebration of life was held to honor her memory.
Tributes