Helen Pitre (born Helen Henrietta Boushey), longtime resident of Humboldt County, died of Alzheimer’s disease with her family by her side at Frye’s Care Home in Eureka on March 14, 2026. She had faced this difficult disease with dignity and grace, and remained sweet and loving, as she always had been, until the very end of her life.

Helen’s life was centered on love for her family, for children and for the natural world. She was an enthusiastic gardener and loved backpacking. Among her favorite places were the Klamath River, where she camped with her extended family, and the South Fork of the Trinity River where she spent a year in a remote cabin and hosted many gatherings with family and friends.

Helen was born on March 28, 1945, in Bakersfield to Homer Astley Boushey and Eleanor Boyd Boushey. She had three older brothers and a younger sister. Her father would eventually become a Brigadier General in the Air Force and the family lived in Okinawa, Virginia, Ohio, Washington D.C. and Tennessee, before re-settling in California, where Helen graduated from Castilleja School in Palo Alto. Helen’s family made frequent visits to a cabin her grandparents had built on the Klamath River, and from a young age Helen fell in love with the redwood forest and the river.

Soon after her graduation in 1962, Helen married William Lee (Bill) White. They had three children, Eleanor Kimberly (1963), William Gregg (Bill) (1965) and Anna Boushey (1969), before divorcing in 1970. Helen earned her BA in English from Stanford University and later became a registered nurse.

In Palo Alto, Helen lived with her three young children beside a tennis court in College Terrace. Her sister, Annette, lived on the other side of the court, and they and their friends spent many happy hours playing there. Helen grew vegetables, and for a while kept chickens in her backyard. She was an avid runner, and spent many afternoons running the Stanford Dish Loop Trail. Whenever she could, she went up to the family property on the Klamath River – once staying there for a month with her three children. She would often say it was where she most felt like herself.

Helen met and married Anthony Joseph (Tony) Pitre and they moved to Bayside in 1981. Tony and Helen welcomed four more children into the family: Joseph Vincent (1981), Wulf Aimee (1983), Tessa Marie (1986) and Anthony Martin (1988). They bought an old farmhouse, raised sheep and steer, kept chickens and ducks, and grew a large vegetable and flower garden. Helen worked as a labor and delivery nurse, first at General Hospital and later at St. Joseph’s and Redwood Memorial Hospitals.

Helen and Tony moved their family to Trinidad in 2004. Helen loved gardening, spending time on the beaches and walking through the forest to College Cove. She retired from nursing in 2007 after a career of 30 years, supporting new mothers and welcoming newborns into the world. Helen’s nursing colleagues described her as gentle, strong, compassionate, nurturing and capable. After her divorce from Tony, Helen lived on her own in Trinidad in a small house near the ocean. She loved spending time with her children and grandchildren and hosting family and friends at the family cabin on the South Fork of the Trinity River, with many happy days spent swimming and floating down the river. She lived there for a year, much of it on her own, and later reflected that it was the first time in her life that she truly learned to relax. In a letter to her daughter, she wrote, “I feel so happily focused on things here: my writing, and exploring the environment, learning from the plants and birds and insects and animals, chopping wood, cooking simple good food and reading.”

Helen is survived by her children, Eleanor White, Bill White, Anna White, Joe Pitre, Wulf Pitre, Tessa Head and Anthony Thomas; her grandchildren, Natasha LaVeille, Tai White, Emersyn White, Phaedon Moser, Odin Pitre, Ella Head, Kieran Head, Jaden Thomas and a baby girl expected this summer; her great-grandchildren, Bryan Williams, Julian Williams and Nate Finley; her sister, Annette Holland; and her brothers, Homer Boushey and Boyd Dyer. She was preceded in death by her brother Hugh Dyer, her nephew Nick Dyer and her parents, Eleanor and Homer Boushey.

Helen was a devoted mother and a loving sister, aunt and daughter. She was a gardener and a poet, a good friend, a caring nurse and had an adventurous spirit. She made everyone around her feel loved and accepted, and she is dearly missed.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 9. Please email her daughter Tessa for more information if you would like to attend: tessapitre@gmail.com. Donations in Helen’s memory can be made to Save the Redwoods League or the Northcoast Regional Land Trust.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Helen Pitre’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.