Mrs. Helen Eunice (Pollard) Abbott, 96, of LaPorte, and formerly of Phoenix, died Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, at Countryside Nursing Home, following declining health.
She was born Nov. 12, 1912, in Ficklin, Ill., to Salathiel Berzelius and Myrtle Agnes (Wilkison) Foltz, and had resided with her daughter in LaPorte the past five years.
On Nov. 22, 1930, in Champaign, Ill., she married Sheldon Eugene Wolfe who preceded her in death. On Dec. 23, 1945, in Valparaiso, Ind., she married Victor Byrd Pollard, who died Sept. 21, 1977, in Michigan City. On April 11, 1981, in Las Vegas, she married Paul Vincent Abbott, who died May 18, 1991, in Phoenix.
A graduate of Urbana (Ill.) High School, Mrs. Abbott was an interior decorator with many clients throughout Northwest Indiana, having shown an early aptitude for sewing at the age of four. In addition to those skills, she also worked at Kingsbury Ordnance Plant during World War II and at Kaiser Aluminum in Wanatah. For many years, she was co-owner with her husband, Vic, of Redwood Trailer Park in Westville, and Vic’s Mobile Homes in Michigan City.
Surviving are one daughter, Eunice Marlene (Gordon) Westergren of LaPorte; two granddaughters, Jody Rae (Dwight) Ames of Union Mills, and Michelle Diane (Alfred) Harbich of LaPorte; three grandsons, Steven Woodson (Jeanne), Thomas Irvin II (April), and David Brian Osborn, all of LaPorte; 15 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and one sister, Hazel Ruth Klingler of Sedalia, Mo. She was preceded in death by her parents, one sister, Gertrude Irene Lankford, in October 1996, and one great-great-granddaughter, Kayla Grace Ames on March 21, 2008.
The service will be Wednesday at 1 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 220 Crescent Dr., LaPorte, with her grandsons officiating. Friends may call at the church from 10 a.m. until the service Wednesday. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery in Valparaiso. Contributions may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.
Cutler Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.