DOWNEY - Helen Delores Wessman died peacefully in Upland on March 31 at 7:31 a.m. She celebrated her 86th birthday with family on March 6.Wessman was born in Emmetsburg, Iowa on March 6, 1923. She grew up in Iowa with her parents, Jim and Mary Collins, and her sister, Marilyn. In 1955 she and her husband, Gaylon, and their children moved to Downey. She was an active member of First Baptist Church of Downey until she and her family moved to Ontario in 2002. The past six years she belonged to Hillside Community Church in Alta Loma. Wessman was a wife and mother since age 17. She was preceded in death by her third-born son, Donald Wessman, and husband, Gaylon. She is survived by her son, Robert (Maricella) Dietrich of Payson, Ariz.; Roger (Phyllis) Dietrich of LeRoy, Minn.; daughter, Doris (David) Anderson of Ontario; sister, Marilyn (Charles) Heers of Las Vegas; nine grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren. A funeral service was held April 6 at Rose Hills in Whittier.

********** Published: April 10, 2009 - Volume 7 - Issue 51