Helen Loraine Lail

Helen Loraine Lail went to be with our lord on Monday, May 16, 2011 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. With heavy hearts we celebrate her life as a beloved wife, loving mother, adoring grandmother and a proud great-grandmother. Funeral services will be at 11:00 am on Friday, May 20, 2011 at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road with Chaplain E.J. Chafin officiating. Burial will follow in the Bluff Creek Cemetery, Taylor County Texas. The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Thursday, May 19 at the funeral home. Helen was born in Vancouver B.C., Canada on May 28, 1925 to Earl and Louise (Taylor) Fennell. They lived there for six years before coming to the U.S.A. At the tender age of 19 she met the love of her life, Bill Lail while living in Southern California. After a wonderful romance they eloped and were married on July 30, 1945 in Salinas, California. Three days later, her husband Bill was shipped out to the Pacific during WWII. Left alone so quickly after their marriage Helen went to live with his parents on the Albee Ranch in Montana. While awaiting his return she was a school teacher for the rural students in the Big Hole Basin. Upon his return and their glorious reunion they moved to the beach area of Southern California, where they resided until moving to Abilene, Texas in the early 1960's. She found great joy in the Texas Ranch style life. Always surrounded by a loving family - the gatherings were endless. Her love of life made her the rock and center of our family. Her unconditional love resides in all of us. She will be greatly missed. Helen is survived by her husband Bill; three children - (son) Gary William Lail and wife Pati, (daughter) Connie Louise Lail Jones and husband Tom, (son) James Floyd Lail and wife Barbara; one loving sister, Diane Simpson, and two most precious cousins, Joyce Frazier and Virginia Crawford. She leaves behind eleven grandchildren: Celeste, Candice, Loren, - Christopher, Patrick, Amber - Heather, Samantha, Brandi, Phillip and Ryan; six beautiful great-grandchildren: Krista, Dillon, Taylor, Ethan, Dylan, Gavin, and the seventh due to be born this September. The family wishes to give special thanks to Dr. Victor Hirsh, and his dedicated nurse Linda for many years of kind and gentle care during her illness; as well as to Hendrick Hospice Care, Tommi, Mary-Lou and Brooke. You are forever in our hearts.