Helen Johnston Kintner

Selfless, sweet, and tenderhearted to the end, Helen Johnston Kintner of North Bend, Oregon, passed away peacefully at home with family at her side on January 23, 2018, at the age of 90. She was born Helen Elaine McFetridge on July 28, 1927, in Dallas, Oregon, to Archibald and Eliza (Bessie) McFetridge. She married Richard Johnston on June 21, 1953. They had five daughters, whom they raised in Newport, Oregon, in a home filled with music, laughter, warmth, and the smell of homemade bread. After Dick’s death in 1999, Helen married Dr. Marion Kintner, who passed away in December of 2016.

Helen was a brilliant pianist, musician, director, and teacher whose compositions and arrangements touched and inspired those who heard her music. She was fiercely devoted to her family and her faith in Jesus, becoming a counselor, mentor, and mom to the myriad of young people she fed, loved, and welcomed into her home and heart. Her generosity of time, energy, and talents enriched hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. She was treasured, admired, and adored by those who knew her, and especially by her five girls and their families, who feel so honored to have been hers: Cammy Nye of North Bend; Julie Vogel (Barry) of Sacramento, CA; Cindy Favreau (Tony) of Eugene; Nanette Stevens (Rick) of North Bend; Suzanne Mulkey (Greg) of Coos Bay; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Surely Helen is directing choirs of angels at this very moment, and she has undoubtedly given Dick a solo.

Inurnment took place at Rest-Haven Memorial Park in Eugene in a private family ceremony.

Memories of and tributes to Helen may be left at www.coosbayareafunerals.com and will be so appreciated and treasured by her family.

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