Helen Legendre - Orr

Helen started her education in a one room schoolhouse in Central and South America where she spent her childhood. She went stateside to attend a Catholic High School in New Orleans, Louisiana where she met Octave J. Legendre. They were married on June 6, 1945. Her desire was to be an airline stewardess, but at that time they were required to have a nursing background. Those dreams were abandoned when WWII broke out as nurses were needed in the U.S. military. She has worked in every aspect of nursing- private duty nursing, a woman’s hospital, public health and she finished her career as a school nurse in New Orleans public schools, a job that she loved.

Octave died in 1982, and she married her second husband, James E Orr in 1986. He died in 2003, and she moved to Montrose to be near her daughters. She is survived by her four children, Victoria (Dennis) Bourgeois and Lesley (Steven) Hallenborg as well as her two sons that live in Australia -Bruce (Jannine) Legendre and Joseph (Marcela) Legendre. She has eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will take place in August and any donations in her name can be made to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, a cause that she felt strongly about.

Crippin Funeral Home is assisting the family (970)249-2121.