Helen Louise Bledsoe's Obituary
HELEN BLEDSOE
Helen Louise Shanks Bledsoe passed away on Monday, May 2, 2016, at her home in Longview. She was 88 years old.
Services will be at New Life Baptist Church in Longview on Friday, May 6, at 10 a.m., with Rev. James Pierce officiating. Graveside services will be held at 2:30 p.m. at Chapelwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Texarkana, Texas.
Helen was a homemaker and a seamstress, as well, and was a member of New Life Baptist, where she enjoyed fellowship with her Sunday School class and friends there for years. She also enjoyed spending time with her only child, Carol; her sisters, Faye and Carolyn; and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She was born April 2, 1928, in Chillicothe, Ohio, in Ross County, to her parents, James Henry Shanks and Sadie Pearl Blurton Shanks. She graduated from Arkansas High School in Texarkana, Arkansas. She married Joel Goode Bledsoe on July 8, 1948, and although they divorced on December 7, 1981, they remarried on September 16, 1982.They lived in Texarkana for many years before relocating to Longview, to be near Helen's mother and her family. Her parents and Joel both preceded her in death, as well as her brothers, Harold Shanks and James Henry Shanks, Jr.
She is survived by her sisters, Faye Dickens of Burleson, and Carolyn Wilson (Dale) of Longview; her daughter, Carol (Pete), of Longview; grandchildren Virginia “Jenna” Lucas (Mitch), Kristina Thompson (Chris), Joel Hagler, and Angela Howell (Greg), as well as nine great-grandchildren.
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