Helen C. Reuter

H.C.R. Here
Helen C. Reuter = Anomaly: “Deviation from the common rule” – Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary…
If ever there was a woman with a zest for trying to find the very best things that life has to offer, be it spiritual, artistic, or simply in the presence of sheer beauty, H.C.R. was at the top of the list.
Helen completed this portion of her journey on Earth the morning of August 13, 2011. She has headed to the great beyond to meet up with some of her long lost best friends and family. As many of you know, she was always “full throttle” when it came to accomplishing anything. Helen was a fantastic designer, COMPLETELY organized; “A place for everything, and everything in it’s place”. She designed and helped create Custom homes at The Vintage, thirty million dollar private car collection showrooms, and vacation Villas in spectacular places all over the world. Everything she touched or arranged became a remarkable “piece”, always having a unique and very artistic, classy ambiance.
The magic of Christmas time was her forte’. She would spend more hours decorating her stunning tree, and the trees and homes of many of her friends, than most people spend in ten years combined. She collected “pieces” from all over the world, not a lot, just one item per location; but each item was spectacular, and brought out the very essence of the area or event that it was cultivated!
Helen lived in San Francisco; a city that she felt had an inordinate amount of class, style, and culture. She loved the City life, and respected every nuance that it had to offer. Those that were in need of help, she reached out to on a regular basis, even though she did not have the financial means, she would give of herself; receiving praise for being the most active needle point member of the congregation; the four chairs at The Alter are her works of art, and took years to create.

If ever there was a person that should have been born financially wealthy, it was Helen. She inherently knew what style and class meant, Her taste was impeccable, her style exquisite, and her love of travel insatiable. She would rather save up all year long and stay at one of the finer hotels for two days, than stay at a lesser hotel for two weeks.
Then there was “THE HAT”… Everywhere she went she would have her signature Black Hat. She just thought that ladies should wear them when going out – period. On her outings in The City, there would be sales people, restaurant employees, numerous people that she didn’t even know their name, would remember her by her hat, and greet her with a warm “hello”; she had a great “air” about her.
She enjoyed her martinis chilled and shaken WELL, if no ice crystals had formed on the top of the drink, it would go back – but in all fairness she always warned the bartender in advance, so usually it became a bit of a show, with the bartender furiously shaking the shaker until the ice broke into little pieces – then forming a martini of perfection!
Helen found out she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, only a couple of months after moving back to Newport, after 30 + years in San Francisco.
Forty eight hours before leaving us, she was having lunch at Neiman Marcus with family and friends, and checking in with her associates in San Francisco to make sure all was going well at the charities she loved. She spent thousands of hours with them including the Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels and the Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo.
When Helen could no longer get out of bed for good, she left her earthly bonds with style and class and began her new journey, Act ll.

She leaves behind three sons, a daughter, and seven grandchildren; Jeff, Mark, Nancy and John with the grandkids, Parker, Dylan, Corinne, Austin, Jake, Hank, and Sharlee.

She will be missed on a daily basis, the passing of an era of sorts.

She asked that I lieu of flowers any donation be sent to the Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo CA 94402 – “Earmarked for the endowment fund”. It meant a lot to her. Service will be held in San Mateo on Oct. 1st in the Transfiguration Episcopal Church.