Helen Ramon

It is the end of an era for the Flathead, for Montana and for the art world at large with the passing of Helen Huck Voelker Ramon, 97, of Kalispell, who passed away July 3, 2012, at Heritage Place.

She was born at midnight, Feb. 22-23, 1915, in Ipswich, S.D., daughter of Harry and Ethel Huck. The family moved to Little Red Meadow Creek, in the North Fork, where they homesteaded when Helen was two. She attended school for a time up the North Fork.

After graduating from Flathead High School, Helen attended Montana State College, in Bozeman, graduating with a bachelor’s in fine art in 1938. She married Milton Voelker and together traveled to Panama, where Helen worked as a draftsman. She and her husband also shot photographs, some of which garnered national awards.

While living in San Francisco, Helen attended the San Francisco Art Academy. She later taught art at high schools in Yuma, Ariz., Spokane, Wash., and Couer d’Alene, Idaho, and at Northern Idaho College, in Coeur d’Alene.

In the late 1960s, Helen was invited by Owen Sowerwine to organize the art department at the newly formed Flathead Valley Community College. She taught drawing, design, watercolor and oil painting.

Helen later earned a master’s in fine art at Fort Wright College, in Washington, D.C. During that time, her oil painting “Benedictine” placed in a worldwide exhibition in New York City. She also painted a three-wall mural for a bird collection exhibited in Apgar Village, in Glacier National Park.

She is preceded in death by her parents; husbands Milton Voelker and Carlos Ramon; and son Noel Voelker.

Helen is survived by her sons Vincent Voelker and Theodore Ramon; seven grandchildren; four great grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and contemporaries.

Her legacy will be carried on and never forgotten by loved ones and appreciators everywhere. 

Interment took place July 10, 2012, at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, followed by a life celebration in the family home in Kalispell. A public memorial service was held July 12, 2012, at First Presbyterian Church, in Kalispell.