6 Aug 2021

My Personal Tribute - HELENE EVANS

By Pastor Bill Vasilakis

CRC Churches International - Australian Chairman

Helene Evans, made her triumphant & joyous transition to heaven after serving Jesus faithfully here on earth for 63 yrs. She was a part of Adelaide Christian Centre since her conversion to Jesus in 1958 and served on Staff for many years.

It was my privilege to know her for 50 yrs and she became a dear friend and then my mother in law.

In the final months of her journey on earth it was my honour as a pastor to help prepare her for heaven.

Our prayer times, where we would read scripture and take communion were very meaningful to her. She was a deeply spiritual woman and genuine Christ follower who knew how much Jesus had done for her.

She lived in Christ’s forgiveness and grace and tried with all her heart to live at peace with everyone, particularly with her large family. Her great burden was for her family and to ensure she had no unfinished business with any of them. I reckon she did pretty good on this one.

I am so thankful to God for Helene, as without her I wouldn’t have my wonderful wife Cathy, my four much loved children and eight adored grandchildren. After Jesus, they all are the light of my life, and so on this second day of her home going I’m so grateful for her life.

I witnessed up close how she excelled in her God given roles as a Mum, Grandmother and Great-grandmother. Her selfless generosity and kindness to my family (even remembering all their birthdays) revealed the essence of her character.

Her hospitality and servant heart were legendary in the wider CRC community especially at Adelaide Christian Centre that was her spiritual home over the decades. Her generosity was evident even when facing difficult financial times and had little for herself. So many people have spoken to me about this Christ-like attribute of Helene and remember her little kindnesses to them with such appreciation.

I see her as an awesome example of how Jesus can redeem a young woman who came from a fractured family who had experienced terrible suffering as a child and teenager during the Great Depression and WW2.

She came to Christ in the late 1950’s with two little babies in a most complicated and troubled domestic situation. She did the best with the life decisions she had made up to that time, and often said to me that it was only her faith in Jesus and being part of a loving Church community that held her together. She was only able to progress forward because of the new Christian life she now had.

Like all of us (especially me) Helene made mistakes and some were very consequential.

However, Jesus saw fit to call her into His saving grace, and from that day till her last, she tried to live an authentic Christian life despite the baggage she carried at no fault of her own.

We all are broken in areas of our lives and for Helene, Jesus was always sovereign over all things, and He was her wounded healer who was gradually restoring her, and yesterday this work completed. Praise His Name.

I’m very grateful to her and thankful to Jesus for her amazing life.

I’d like to conclude by honouring Tracy her third daughter who has been magnificent in overseeing her mum’s affairs and by the way she has cared for her night & day in the final trying days. It was so beautiful to see how Tracy with great strength, patience, sensitivity, love and tenderness, oversaw the care her Mum so richly deserved.

These are the qualities of humanity Helene showed to so many and modelled for her children.

Cathy my wife has also been exemplary and I’m awed how they both looked after their Mum in her final months, particularly with so many hospitalisations and medical decisions needing to be made. I’m very proud of both of them.

Our family is grieving for our 91 yr old matriarch, but we have an eternal living hope because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He has assured us that all who believe in Him will live forever with Him.

Bill Vasilakis