Helen Irene Lloyd

Helen Irene Anschutz Lloyd was born at home in Bunker Hill, Kansas on August 15, 1925 to Jacob and Amelia Bastron Anschutz. She was baptized October 22, 1925. She died peacefully in her home September 20, 2019 after being placed under hospice care.

Her family survived harsh Kansas winters and lived out part of the dust bowl years in their cellar. She was always grateful to her parents for moving the family from Russia to Kansas, and was equally thankful to her husband Dan for moving her from Kansas to Texas. Needless to say, she did not like cold weather. While a student at Bunker Hill High School, Helen excelled in basketball, playing forward and lettering 3 years; competed in the high jump at track meets; and was a quartet member in Glee Club.

Helen met the love of her life, Walter Daniel (Dan) Lloyd, while she was working for Western Adjustment Insurance Co. in Great Bend, Kansas, and he was enlisted in the United States Army Air Corp, stationed at Great Bend Army Air Field, training on the newly designed B-29 bomber. They became engaged during a walk to the post office to "mail a package back home". Instead of mailing the package, he told her he thought he would just give it to her…..an engagement ring was inside. They were married on August 13, 1945 at St. Martin's Lutheran Church in Austin where they were active members until becoming instrumental in helping bring Good Shepherd Lutheran church to Bastrop. During their honeymoon trip to San Antonio, World War II ended. In 1946, Helen brought her little sister, Beverly, from Kansas to live with them in Austin. Soon after they moved from Austin to Bastrop where they opened Snow White Laundry & Cleaners on Main Street. Summers were spent at Lake Austin on the family-built houseboat. While Helen may have occasionally ventured into the water, she never, ever got her hair wet. It was on a day at the lake that she encountered her first Texas armadillo. Understandably, she thought she had seen a prehistoric creature.

Helen was an avid reader and began keeping a journal in the 70's. The daily entries in those journals have now become priceless to her family. She was an amazing cook and a skilled seamstress. She instilled in her children the value of volunteering and helping others. She was a Girl Scout Troop leader for many years, a member of the Bastrop Homecoming Committee in the 50's and 60’s and was a Ladies Auxiliary VFW member.

After the very untimely death of Dan in 1967, Helen went to work for First National Bank-Bastrop where she was a teller and later worked in bookkeeping where she stayed until her retirement on January 14, 2000.  She then began what she would describe as her favorite job, taking care of her great-grandson Bailey from the time he was 3 months old until he entered school.

Helen enjoyed many First National Bank bus trips, traveling to Kansas to visit family and annual Father's Day Weekend Lloyd family get-togethers in Port Aransas. Helen also spent countless weekends in the 80’s seeing after a handful of grandchildren who remember their grandma making homemade donuts, her special cinnamon toast, and her unforgettable chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. She is the true Matriarch of our family and will forever be missed.

Helen is survived by her sisters Beverly and Ella Mae; son Louis and wife Debbie; daughter Lori; son-in-law Ed Sanders; grandchildren Darron Sanders, Daniel Lloyd and wife Sharon, Charlie Chapin and wife Mychele, Tracy Orozco and husband Carlos, Michael Lloyd and wife Catherine, and Jonathan Chapin and wife Crystal. She was also blessed with 11 great-grandchildren Bryce Chapin, Bailey Chapin, Colton Lloyd, Isabella Orozco, Keira Lloyd, Gabriella Orozco, William Chapin, Lucas Chapin, Emmett Lloyd, Ilse Lloyd, and Audrey Chapin.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Jacob and Amelia Bastron Anschutz; her husband, Dan Lloyd and his parents, Walter Charles and Louise Magdalene Lucksinger Lloyd; her daughter Jane Ann Lloyd Sanders; her brothers, Jake Anschutz and wife Lorraine and Leo Anschutz and wife Jean; her sisters-in-law, Mary Louise Schmidt and husband Fred (Rosebud) and Marjorie Bradford and husband Brick; brothers-in-law Donald Lloyd, wife Geraldine, and their son Donnie Ray; and Johnny Mercer. She was a caring and loving Aunt Helen to numerous nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank her incredible physicians, Olivia Blankenship, FNP and Vinh D. Nguyen, D.O., for their concern and excellent care. And also to her extremely compassionate Encompass Hospice caregivers Gwen and Amy.

Funeral service details:

Visitation: Tuesday, September 24th at Providence Funeral Home from 6-8pm; 2079 HWY 71 E, Bastrop TX 78602. Please dress casual wearing any one of Helen's favorite colors-pink, green, or yellow.

Funeral Service: Wednesday, September 25th 1pm CST at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 202 TX-71, Bastrop TX 78602.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church or to the American Cancer Society.

An interment of ashes is scheduled for October 19th at Austin Memorial Park, 2800 Hancock Drive, Austin, TX 78731.