Helen Embler

Helen Rogers Embler gently departed this life, moving into the more immediate presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ early on Sunday November 29.There will be a viewing at 12:30 pm, Evans Funeral Home, and a graveside service at 2 pm Wednesday December 2, at Laurel Haven Cemetery, 3599 Still Meadow Way, Lenoir, NC, officiated by Rev. John Sawyer.Masks and social distance please. Helen May Rogers was born on Nov 22, 1931 in Lynchburg, Virginia to Ethel May and Welvy Spencer Rogers.Widowed during the Great Depression when Helen was one year old, Helen’s mother placed her three daughters in an orphanage. The years of hard work and deprivation formed the woman we loved, grateful for every little thing. When Helen was fifteen, she met Paul Embler in a Sunday School class in Asheville.When he saw her, he suggested to the class teacher that everyone say their names and addresses.Three years later Helen and Paul began their epic marriage. Helen painted in oil, beautiful landscapes and murals, including one in the lobby of Mountain Grove Church of Lenoir.She was a passionate animal lover, once writing a moving letter to the News Topic editor over a vehicle deliberately backing over a terrapin.She had a real talent for composing poems read at church celebrations and family birthdays, poems that echo through time and reveal how precious we all were to her. Helen had a successful career in furniture sales at Stevens Furniture.She also knew pain and hardship.She lost an eye in an accident and lived with a prosthetic one.She endured breast cancer, surgery, and chemotherapy in 2014.While buying groceries in May 2015 at 83 years of age, she was attacked by a man in the parking lot.Threatened with a gun and told to get in the car, she refused and walked away.The man stole her car and groceries but was arrested within the hour. Helen entrusted herself to Jesus Christ and her life was marked by compassion.The family thanks members of Ambassador Baptist Church for their many acts of kindness to Paul and Helen.We have deep appreciation for Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care for their work. For seven decades Helen and Paul were never apart until she injured herself in a fall.She was in a care facility for weeks and returned home November 19, three days before her 89th birthday.At bedtime, her last words to Paul were ''I can't tell you how good it is to finally be home.''In the morning she was found unconscious, and ten days later was gone. Helen was preceded in death by her mother, Ethel Stevens and two sisters, Katherine Ayers and Gladys Webb.She is survived by husband Paul Embler, son Arch Embler and wife Debbie Embler, daughter Nancy Embler Sigmon and husband Tony Sigmon, son David Embler and wife Gina Embler, grandchildren Jack Embler and wife Brittany Embler, daughter Isabella Embler, grandchildren Matt Embler, Hannah Abernethy and husband Richard Trevorrow, and Mikah Abernethy. Paul the Apostle seemed to describe Helen, writing:''Love is patient, love is kind.It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.''(1 Cor. 13) Online condolences may be sent to www.evansfuneralservice.com Evans Funeral Service & Crematory is serving the Embler Family.