Helen V. Olsen Blackwell

Helen V. Olsen Blackwell died in Ritzville on Aug. 16.

She was born in Everett on July 11, 1936, to Donald and Ann Olsen, where she lived and went to school until her parents purchased Florence Hotel in Hot Springs, Montana.

She met John Bailey in Montana and married him in 1952. They had four children over their 29-year marriage. They moved to Sprague in 1965 where they raised their children.

Helen worked as a retail clerk where she met and visited with many people passing through Sprague.

John preceded her in death in 1981.

She married Richard Blackwell in 1988. Helen loved her family and wa...