Mildred Helm

Mildred “Millie” Susan Mecham Helm passed away peacefully in her home on January 28, 2022.

Millie was born on April 12, 1924, to Elvin (Bob) Charles Mecham and Barbara (Nellie) Ellen Stutznegger Mecham in Firth, Idaho. She was raised in a loving and a humble home in the Blackfoot area and was the second of eleven children. She enjoyed a life-long loving relationship with each of her siblings. 

Millie attended schools in Kimball, Rockford and Pingree, then moved to Blackfoot during her senior year, where she graduated from Blackfoot High School in 1942. She later received her training and education at Idaho State University in cosmetology and secretarial services.

She married the love of her life, Roland Thaddeus Helm, in 1942, and they raised three children together, Brent Roland Helm, Kathy Ann Helm Sasser, and Greg Raymond Helm. Together they built their home in Pocatello. It was a gathering place for family and friends. 

In her early years, Millie worked for Kraft Foods and Union Pacific Railroad in Pocatello, and after receiving her secretarial training she worked at Bonneville Elementary School, the Boy Scouts of America, and Idaho State University, where she retired after working in the admissions office for thirteen years. She was the family and neighborhood hairstylist, cutting and styling hair in her home for family and friends for decades. 

Millie was a lifelong active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its principles were a guiding light in her life. She served in the church in many various callings and in her community throughout her life and she loved helping, caring for and preparing meals for others. In their retirement years, she and Roland served a mission at the Atlanta Georgia Temple. 

Millie loved gathering around the piano and singing with her siblings. She and her sisters often sang together at family gatherings and in the community, and she was a member of the Silver Chords Choir in her retirement years. She enjoyed dancing and she and Roland often spent Friday and Saturday evenings dancing together. She loved to laugh and often shared her funniest and most embarrassing moments with her family and friends. She loved to read biographies, was a competitive scrabble player and enjoyed playing board games, solving puzzles and playing cards with family and friends. She was an accomplished seamstress, and sewed clothes, wedding dresses, costumes and home decor for herself, family, friends and the community.  

She was an avid sports fan and religiously followed the Utah Jazz. She loved watching her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren compete in sporting events and perform their musical talents. She enjoyed traveling, especially if it meant seeing children or grandchildren, and throughout her life she visited Hawaii, Tonga, Puerto Rico, Italy, and many places throughout the United States.  Millie and Roland loved snowbirding in Arizona and southern Utah for 10 years.  

Her children, grand-children and great-grandchildren have many fond memories of being with her in her lovely home. She always had a drawer full of toys, a closet full of dressups, a beautiful garden and more food than anyone could finish. She was generous, patient, and loving with each of them. They each have memories of playing uninterruptedly for hours in her home.

She is survived by two of her children, Kathy Ann Helm Sasser (Dave) and Greg Raymond Helm (Pamela); daughter-in-law Pamela Jones Helm; seven of her ten siblings, LaRene Mecham Vaughn, Velda Mecham Davis, Bertha Mecham Marler (Carl), Ellen Mecham Rice (Dee), Daryle Mecham (Jackie), Doyle Mecham (Marilyn), Gloria Mecham Cheirrett (Clair) and sister-in-law, Helen Lyman Mecham; and eighteen grandchildren, sixty-nine great-grandchildren and ten great-great grandchildren.

Millie was preceded in death by her husband Roland Thaddeus Helm; her sons, Brent Roland Helm and Gary Thaddeus Helm; her daughter-in-law Julie Davis Helm; great grandson Davis Jones Moon; her parents, Elvin Charles Mecham and Barbara Ellen Stutznegger Mecham; her brothers, Elvin Mecham, James Mecham and Donald Mecham;  brothers-in-law, Claude Vaughn and Richard Davis and sister-in-law, Darla Smith Mecham. 

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 5 at 11:00 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel at 1440 Lakeview Dr., Pocatello.  There will be a viewing on Friday, February 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Wilks Funeral home, 211 W Chubbuck Rd, Chubbuck, ID, and Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the church prior to the service. 

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