Helen G. Purcell

Helen Gertrude Purcell was born in Kingsville, Ohio on January 28, 1923 to Peter J. and Lillian Diemer. Helen passed into eternal rest on January 18, 2014 after suffering several years with heart and lung problems, and most recently complications from an infection.


Helen was the third oldest of seven children, with all of her siblings preceding her in death - Alice, Mary, Ray, Chuck, Catherine and most recently, brother Ralph, who passed away last year. She graduated from Ashtabula High School and enlisted in the Marine Corps during WWII (1944-1946), and was stationed at El Toro Marine Base and Coronado Island in San Diego.


Helen married the love of her life, Maxwell L. (M.L.) Purcell in 1947. They lived and worked in Los Angeles for several years, and moved to Downey, CA in 1953. In 1955 their only child, daughter Diane was born. In 1963 they settled in Garden Grove, CA. Mom was a loyal, dedicated employee of CalComp, working for many management executives over 28 years and subsequently the company president, and retiring in 1978.


After M.L.’s death in 1994, Helen moved to Anaheim Hills in 2001 to be near her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. In 2009 she moved to Meridian Assisted Living in Anaheim Hills, and in May 2012, due to increasing health issues, moved to Best Elderly Care, Board and Care Home in Orange.


Helen leaves behind her loving family, daughter, Diane and son-in-law, Rod Tippets, three grandchildren - Ryan (DeAnna), Randy (Bree) and Rebekah (Brooke), seven great-grandchildren (Marilyn, Riley, Maxwell, Mykayla, Avery, Porter & Finley), and the loving extended families of the Tippets’, Strasheim’s, Bohnet/Kozlik Family; sister-in-law Pat Diemer of Kingsville, Ohio; Aunt, Martha Strong of Ashtabula, Ohio; many nieces and nephews of the Diemer, Livingston and Olson families in Ohio, Kentucky and Florida; nephew Bruce Diemer of Chino, CA; Beverly Yeager of Denton, Texas and Bob Hurley of Gilbert, Arizona.


Graveside services with military honors for Helen are scheduled for 12:00 noon on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at Fairview Cemetery, Gainesville, TX, where she will be laid to rest next to M.L. The family will receive friends from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. at Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home prior to the service. A funeral service was held at San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church in Anaheim Hills on January 25, 2014.


In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, or to the Macular Degeneration Research Foundation.


Our family wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude for the loving care she has received, especially over the last year and a half, by Mariana & George, caregivers Doris and Julie at Best Elderly Care, her doctors, Dr. Wu and Dr. Frisch, and in her final days, her care at St. Joseph’s Hospital 4th floor nursing staff, Town and Country Healthcare, especially her nurses Adrienne and Sarah and Irene and Carol from Evergreen Hospice.