Lena Helton

Elena Nikolaevna Yerokhina was born on February 10, 1983, in Vladimir, Russia, and passed away on February 9, 2022, in Dallas, Texas.

Lena was adopted on May 6, 1997, and came to America on May 9, 1997, fulfilling her dream of coming to America and having a family.

The name Lena means light and she was appropriately named at birth as she lit up any room she entered. We will cherish the many wonderful memories we had with this extraordinarily creative, artistic, funny, and beautiful young woman.

She was actively involved in the church youth group while in middle school and high school. Lena was awarded the trophy for Best Girl Camper at church camp. She went on Wilderness Trek in Colorado with the church youth group twice and literally led the pack. She participated in multiple service projects. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and was baptized while in high school.

Lena loved holiday rituals and enjoyed July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. She went from knowing no English to being conversationally fluent within 2 months. She excelled academically winning numerous awards in the Linguathon language competition, President’s Award for Excellence in Education, Academic Excellence in Science Award, Academic Excellence in History Award, Academic Excellence in ESL Award, and many others. When she worked for a veterinarian, he told her parents she was the best employee and wondered if they had any more like her at home.

Lena was loved by God, her parents, her brother, extended family and friends who will greatly miss her.

She is survived by her parents, Bob and Sonja Helton of Plano, Texas; brother, Val Helton of Redding, California; grandmothers, Billie Patterson of Allen, Texas and JoAnn Helton of Plano, Texas; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

A private family service will be held at a later date