Jeffery Helmers
Jeffery Helmers died suddenly on 24 March 2021. Jef’s Celebration of Life is 17 April 2021 at 2:00 P.M. Central Time at Ambruster’s Chapel in Clayton, MO which will also be available through a live stream.
Jef loved animals, especially cats, so in his memory charitable donations may be made to Tenth Life Cats 🐈
Jef’s legacy is a passion for reading, life-long learning, sharing music, love for animals, travel, kindness, and good conversations. Over his lifetime, Jef’s desire to provide for his family included working as a Paleontologist, Archeologist, Agriculture Engineering Technician, Scaffold Builder, Industrial Insulator, sail maker, rigger, certified Navy welder (on Tridents and fast attack submarines), Systems Manager, Terrain Analyst, Open Source Analyst, Managing Serials Librarian, Web Librarian, Acquisitions Librarian, Collection Development Librarian, Research Center Managing Librarian, Reference Librarian, and an Instructor with Booz Allen at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency where he died while preparing for his next class.
Survived by his widow and dearest love, Charla Helmers, Jef was born in Lake Charles, LA on August 1, 1960. He is predeceased by his mother, Eleanor Hubbard Henry and by his father Theodore Helmer. Jef’s father was a Medical Technician in the Air Force and so his early childhood was spent at Lake Charles, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi and Blytheville, Arkansas.
As an undergraduate, Jef led an extracurricular course in Paleontology; presented classroom lectures on taxonomy; taught Invertebrate Paleontology lab; presented a paper on Late Cretaceous mammals from Vinton's Bluff, Clay County, Mississippi at the 42nd Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting in Mexico City; and coordinated a joint field expedition in Mississippi between Yale University—Biology, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality-Office of Geology, and Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Sciences where he found two cretaceous mammalian teeth that were donated to the LSU Museum of Natural Sciences. He spent as much time in the LSU Geography and Anthropology Department leading to a broad Geosciences background and interest.
After leaving college, Jef involved himself in theatrical fencing and historical fencing, He served as a liaison between the groups. He served on the board of the Association for Historical Fencing and participated in Combat Con in Las Vegas, NV. He also participated in the Paddy Crane (Paddy Crane was Erol Flynn’s Fight Director) in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada where he traveled from Baltimore with the Fight Directors he was studying with.
Jef had a beautiful bass voice developed through the choir at Baker Senior High School, Baker, LA, which he furthered by studying opera--at the time of his passing, he was preparing for the 2022 opera season. He had a passion for blues, making the trek down Highway 61 to the Crossroads, in addition to singing gospel music. He has numerous friends who perform on Cherokee Street in St. Louis, MO with whom he shared his passion for music. Every morning, Jef sat in his music corner and practiced his banjo, ukulele, and guitar, occasionally adding a fiddle tune.
Continuing his education on many topics and striving to acknowledge the humanity in others, Jef studied multiple foreign languages. He could strike up a conversation with people he met by simply saying hello or thank you in their first language (German, Bosnian, Ebo, Russian, Chinese, Serbian, French, Spanish, Arabic, even in Latin), and from that he gained friendships no matter where he went. To further his understanding of African languages, Jef even travelled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for an intensive study course.
Through his love of experiencing the world, Jef had traveled to Mexico, Canada, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, and Ghana. Those who knew him, know well that Jef had quite a collection of hats (new and vintage), but the purchase completely negotiated for in German, was special for him. Jef even visited his driver’s hometown in Ghana and sat with the family singing Reggae
After achieving his Masters of Library Information Sciences at Catholic University of America, Jef fully integrated with the Research Center at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) although he had worked previously in various roles with the Libraries of the Defense Mapping Agency and the National Imagery & Mapping Agency. He also spent a portion of his time researching at the USGS, Department of Agriculture, Army Geospatial Center, and Library of Congress Libraries. These experiences led to his working open-source research before it was a formal stream of research methodology. His research ability was most notable when he worked several inter-Agency inquiries where he was able to provide an answer that saved time and money for the other Agencies. His motto was “Give me your weird and difficult questions.”
Of his many threads of study, his focus over the last 30 years has always been what is best for a Geospatial Analyst, reflected well in his collection development and most recently in his delivery of instruction. In Jef’s final days, he was preparing for a relocation to south Louisiana. He had a discussion with his management which was bringing into focus an intersection of these passions: teaching so that analysts can do the best they can do. In this excitement, his life was cut short.
Jef will be missed for his honest integrity, his wisdom, his story for every situation, his love of music and animals, his gentle spirit, his willingness to stand up for justice even when it was uncomfortable, his friendships-diversity of such depth, his insatiable self-learning, his dapper dressing, a beautiful voice, and his ability to openly share. What you saw was him, openly, unapologetically.
Though his life was short, Jef lived fully and passionately, wishing the same fullness for others.
Jef will be missed as a loving and caring husband by his wife and soul mate, Charla. In mourning, Jef leaves behind his brother, Lief Helmers (Gaylynn Martin); sister, Laura St. Blanc (Brent St. Blanc); aunts Wanda Smith (Mike Smith) and Winnie Grissom; several nieces and nephews; cousins, in-laws; and many close friends and coworkers. May you find peace and joy in life as he did.
The Family would like to invite you to share photos and memories of Jef here on his Memorial page. Please submit your photos to AmbrusterChapel@yahoo.com.
To view shared photos, please click on the following link: Photo Album
