We lost a very special lady on October 12, 2025. Helny Younger of Ferndale left this world peacefully in her sleep at age 99, just a few months shy of her birthday in early January.

She was born in Kardis, Sweden, 50 miles North of the Arctic circle on the Swedish side of the border with Finland. Her family consisted of 10 children and their parents, Karl and Hilja Waara. Her father supported the family as a customs and border patrol officer for Sweden, and was especially on the lookout for Finnish liquor smuggling. They also had a small farm with a couple of cows, chickens and grew vegetables to store for the long winters in their cellar.

Mom had her first taste of a foreign language when she went to elementary school and was required to learn Swedish. Her mother was Finnish and the family spoke Finnish at home. She also learned English and German at school.

She had to travel to a larger town at middle-school age, Haparanda, where she lived with a family and attended school. Unfortunately the family had contracted T.B. and she got it as well. One of the young girls in the family was Mom’s best friend and died from the disease, as did the rest of the family eventually. Her father Karl got her out of the home when he found out what was happening, but Helny was hospitalized for several years at a sanitarium for Tuberculosis patients. She said she learned some hard lessons about life there when she’d make friends and the disease would take them. She joked at home that all the X-rays that she had should make her glow in the dark!

Eventually she got the OK to leave and got a job in Stockholm and lived in a small apartment with some of her brothers and sisters in the Swedish capital,where she worked processing immigrants into the country as WWII had ended and many people were looking for a new home, as theirs had been destroyed by war.

Her older sister Margit had moved to the US, met an American and married. They sponsored her to come to America. She was determined to have transportation so had her bicycle shipped for a hefty fee and a lot of “who would do that” comments when it was spotted in the ship’s hold. She kept quiet.

Her first job in America was at Macy’s basement in New York City. When asked where something was located and she didn’t know she simply sent them to the top floor of the building. This usually worked, but when it didn’t she said she hid in the back room away from the angry customer.

After a couple of jobs in New York City she decided she wanted to travel across the country to meet a cousin in Eureka, so she took the train against the objections of her sister’s husband and made it safely to Eureka.

She got a job working in an office as a secretary for an engineer at Simpson Timber Company.

People were continually setting her up on blind dates and she met her first husband on one, Jim Albert of Ferndale. Jim was a partner in the small Ford dealership in Ferndale and the joke was that he was an oil man — automobile oil, that is. Her first reaction was that he wasn’t her type. After many dates later that changed and she decided to marry Jim. They had two children together, Wesley and Anita. When Jim became ill with heart disease he pushed her to attend College of the Redwoods and took some classes himself. She graduated with an AA in German.

She continued her education at Humboldt State University, when that was its name, taught English as a second language in the evenings, and earned her Masters degree.

She worked for many years teaching ESL — English As A Second Language — at Humboldt State to students from around the world.

After retirement from Humboldt State’s ESL program she spent several years traveling with her daughter, Anita and tending her large flower garden in Ferndale. She got interested in a new adventure at sixty-five years old and joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Bulgaria to teach English. In Bulgaria she met a retired shoe company executive, Don Younger, and came home with a second husband. They spent their time doing volunteer work with the Retired Executive Corps in Panama and Russia after the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Traveling around the country with their fifth wheel trailer.

Their happiness was cut short when Don contracted cancer and died relatively rapidly.

Mom could always be counted on when something was needed. She was famous for her Sunday breakfast of platter “Swedish Pancakes.” She also loved her flower garden and domestic and world travel.

She’ll be greatly missed by all who know her. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Wesley and Audrey Albert of Grants Pass, Oregon and grandson Mark Albert of Ferndale. She also has a brother Erling Waara in Kardis, Sweden. She had many nieces and nephews in Sweden and the U.S.

In lieu of flowers a memorial to Hospice of Humboldt, Doctors Without Borders, or a charity of your choice is suggested.

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