News

By Emily J. Minor

    BRINY BREEZES — Helen Deniston — a widow who lost her first husband to cancer, took up square dancing to ease her grief, then fell in love with the partner of her dreams — died July 21 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 77.
    Mrs. Deniston was born Feb.  4, 1937, in the tiny town of Sheldon, N.D., the youngest of five.
    Her father never had the opportunity to complete school past the third grade. “But he learned that an education was important,” said Lynn Deniston, Mrs. Deniston’s husband. “He had five daughters, and he got them all through college.”
    After graduating from the University of North Dakota with a degree in medical technology, the former Helen Wieg moved to Detroit, on her own, staying with the daughter of a former UND president from whom she had sub-leased a basement apartment. “He told her, ‘That’s kind of a dangerous city, but I have a daughter who lives there,’ ” said Lynn Deniston, retelling the story.
    Once in Detroit, Mrs. Deniston worked in the research lab at Abbott Laboratory. She met a G.I., fell in love, and the couple moved to Ann Arbor, Mich.
    Lynn Deniston said the couple eventually moved to Illinois, where their daughter was born. At that time, Mrs. Deniston quit her job to work as a stay-home mother — a routine she continued when the family moved to Chelsea, Mich.
    In Chelsea, Mrs. Deniston stayed active and fit, always enjoying golf, yoga, jogging and swimming. After her husband lost his battle to pancreatic cancer, Mrs. Deniston took up square dancing classes.
    Lynn Deniston lost his first wife to brain cancer in 1990, and also took up classes in an attempt to move on, even if just a little.
    As it turned out, the two grieving spouses moved forward a lot. They fell in love, and by 1992 they were spending the winters in Briny Breezes — a place they found through mutual square dancing friends.
    Lynn Deniston is a retired professor who taught public health at the University of Michigan. For the past two years, they’ve lived full-time in Briny, he said.
    About nine years ago, Helen Deniston began showing signs of early Alzheimer’s. They changed to “round dancing” because the steps were easier to remember, but had to give up the travel they loved.
    “For our first 15 years, we got to travel a lot and see many different places,” he said. About two years ago, Mrs. Deniston gave up all the activities that she so loved. Lynn Deniston cared for her at home until the very end.
    One daughter, Kristin Rahenkamp, of Niwot, Colo., survives her. Mr. Deniston said they will announce plans for a memorial during Kristin’s visit over the winter holidays. Any donations in her memory can be made to the Briny Breezes Memorial Fund, to keep the chime music going.