Helen Elizabeth Gladish of Boise, Idaho passed away on September 14, 2024, due to complications of colon cancer. She was 97 years old and living at Grace Assisted Living at the time of her passing. It was only the last year of her life that she needed assistance, and she found that under the loving care of Horizon Hospice. She made many new friends through Grace and Horizon and received such kind and gentle care from both.
Helen was born on January 13 th , 1927, in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa to G.R. and Elsie Leue Rinehart where she joined her sister Ruth and brothers Jim and Bill. Helen’s sister died in a horse accident when Helen was only 3 years old.
Both of Helen’s parents were professors at the local university. Her father wanted to apply what he taught as an Agriculture professor so in 1932 he moved the family to their homestead in southern Alberta, Canada. It was a primitive, hardworking lifestyle where the prairie wool was soon turned into farmland using only horses to work the land. Eventually, cattle, sheep, and feedlots were added. Helen had a happy and busy childhood. She rode 1 ½ miles by horseback behind her brother Bill to a one room, 9-person school taught by her mother. From 6 th grade on she boarded out and attended school in town.
By the time Helen was a teenager her sight was failing due to keratoconus. Glasses were of no use. Her devoted mother took Helen wherever there seemed to be progress with the making of contact lenses. On one of those many trips Helen met her future husband Chuck Coble in Boise and always said she dated him because he had a motorcycle.
Chuck and Helen were married June 11, 1947. Her heart was in Canada, but her home was in Boise, so she made frequent visits back to the ranch in Canada.
Eventually, Helen received 2 vision restoring corneal transplants in Portland, Oregon. She went on to become a frequent guest speaker throughout Idaho for the Lions Eye Bank, where she encouraged everyone to be donors.
Chuck and Helen had two sons, Charles Russel Coble and Benjamin James Coble. Although Helen’s family was instrumental in starting Coble Co. Promotional Advertising, Helen thrived in an era when many women were housewives and stay at home moms. This was her chosen role, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She was very involved with her boys and then her grandchildren who benefited from many overnight adventures in her home.
Her husband Chuck was killed in a farming accident at the family ranch in Canada in 1989. Helen married Bill Gladish three years later. They had four happy years together before he passed away due to complications from heart surgery.
Helen was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, and both of her sons, Russ and Ben. She is survived by her daughters-in-law, Sherry Coble (Middleton, Idaho), and Linda Coble (Meridian, Idaho). Grandchildren, Heidi (Steve) Durant (Ontario, Oregon), Chase (Crystal) Coble (Middleton, Idaho), Bill Todd (Boise, Idaho), Cassie and Angie Coble (Boise, Idaho), eight great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Helen lived a happy, adventurous life filled with many outdoor adventures. Jet boating, camping, motorcycle rides, and later in life side by side rides in the Idaho mountains were among her favorites. Her faith in the Lord never wavered and in her last days she was so happy and eager to be in the presence of Jesus, often reminding her loved ones that she was merely changing her addresses since, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” 2 Corinthians 5:8.
Helen’s memorial service will be held at Bowman’s Funeral Home, 10254 W. Carlton Bay in Garden City, Idaho on October 3 rd , 2024, at 2:00 pm.