Helen Arlene Bluemer Maestas

Helen Arlene Bluemer Maestas, 90, passed away Friday, April 2, 2021 in Springerville. She was born March 14, 1931, the third child of Clarence Raymond Bluemer and Elva Mae Johnson in the home of her mother’s parents in Marley, Idaho.

Helen went to school and grew up in the Richfield, Idaho area and married Lloyd Maestas on May 16, 1948. They lived in various places around the western United States as Lloyd followed work in the construction trades. They eventually settled in Arco, Idaho where Lloyd worked as a plumber, pipefitter and draftsman at the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory in the desert 30 miles from town. They raised their family of three children there.

Helen worked various retail and clerical jobs as well as serving as Girl Scout leader and 4-H Club leader. They raised Shetland ponies and horses for a time on their ranchette a mile out of town. Her daughter, Linda, and son, Lloyd (nicknamed “Bo”) were frequent competitors in horsemanship competitions during their youth. At one point Helen became friends with a local professional artist and started going out with her on painting excursions. She gave oil and water color painting a try and found she had a passion for it. She was soon traveling to various places, like Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Twin Falls, Idaho to art shows to sell her work. Still life watercolors of flowers and outdoor scenes were among her favorites.

Once Lloyd retired and with their family all raised, they found travelling around the west in a motor home to their liking. They became snow birds visiting the likes of Quartzsite, Arizona and Demming, New Mexico during the winter months to do rock hounding and exploring. Summers would be spent back home in Idaho and visiting friends and relatives. They even became the proud owners of a sailboat for a time and enjoyed being sailors on Lake Pend Oreille near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and American Falls Reservoir near Pocatello, Idaho. After being nomads for a time they decided to settle down. They sold their place in Arco and bought a home in Quartzsite, Arizona where they enjoyed the sunshine and open spaces of the desert southwest.

Helen continued to live in Quartzsite after Lloyd died in 2007. She travelled to visit kids and grandkids in Idaho, Arizona and New Mexico from time to time and continued to enjoy the peace and solitude of her desert home. Vision problems gradually reduced her ability to drive and eventually made it advisable for her to dispose of her car and her home in Quartzsite and live with family. She spent a couple of summers with Bo and Rawna in Idaho Falls and otherwise with Linda and Doug in Springerville where she passed away during a short hospital stay.

Helen is survived by her daughter, Linda (Douglas) Beal, Springerville; sons, Lloyd (Rawna) Maestas, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Lew (Diane) Maestas, Albuquerque, New Mexico; two widowed sisters, Betty Jones, Brigham City, Utah; and Alice Keller, Boise, Idaho; sister, Sharon (Mark) Hall, St. George, Utah; brother, Warren (Francis) Bluemer, Twin Falls, Idaho; 11 grandchildren, 29 great grandchildren, and 1 great, great grandchild.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, a 16-year old daughter, Cynthia, and her brother, Wayne.

A family memorial service will be held in Idaho at a future date.