Julie Helleksen

Julie Marie Helleksen

October 8, 1964- October 7, 2021

Julie Marie Helleksen went to be with Jesus on October 7th, 2021 after a life-long battle with her mental health, a day before her 57th birthday. Julie was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to Kathryn Anne and Robert Eugene Diedrich on October 8th, 1964.  She was the fifth out of eight children; Mike, Beth, Kris, Susan, Julie, Katey, Paul and John. She loved her siblings so much and always looked forward to visiting them over the years as an adult.

Julie met Mark Helleksen at a bar (even though he has never drank a sip of alcohol in his life and Julie never did again after that) while they were both in college at the University of Minnesota in May 1985. They soon got married on July 5th, 1986.

Julie was always a great student and very intelligent. She earned her Master’s degree in Food and Nutrition at Arizona State University in 1989. She worked at numerous hospitals throughout her career and had years where she was a stay at home mom. She was always a hard worker and found joy in helping others get healthy and in taking care of her family.

She and Mark moved from Minnesota to Arizona in August 1986 and then moved to various places across the U.S. while Mark was active duty in the Air Force including Florida, Arizona, Hawaii, and Utah for fifteen years where Mark eventually retired.

She was a firm believer in her Christian faith and would share the gospel with anyone who listened and always had a bible verse or scripture to share. She attended church at Christian Life Center and had so many friends that she loved and adored there. She started and continued mom to mom for almost a decade which was a women’s fellowship at her home where she made many friends and always made everyone feel welcome and included.

Julie had a love for babies that surpassed all understanding from a very young age. She loved to babysit and watch babies at church so the parents could be present. As she grew up, she wanted as many babies of her own as the Lord would give her and had plans to adopt after she was no longer able to have any more of her own biological children. She always wanted to help each person she met and showed love to each person she came in contact with. She had a knack for gift giving, donated regularly for thirty years to multiple organizations, and found joy in serving and feeding others. She was an amazing cook and encouraged her family to eat a healthy, well balanced diet. She loved living an active, healthy life and was an amazing runner and enjoyed doing workout tapes at home and going to the gym regularly. She loved going on hikes in the beautiful Utah mountains and especially enjoyed the Tanglewood trail. She loved treasure hunting at thrift stores and “Ross dress for less” as she called it. She kept up on weekly chores and always liked to keep a tidy home; even when that was increasingly difficult the more little kids she had running around.

She loved unconditionally and was always selfless in her actions. She was beyond generous to those around her and her thoughtfulness was admirable. She was a bright light to everyone she came in contact with throughout her life and nurtured all of her relationships until she took her last breath. She was an amazing mom to her seven children and sweet nana to her three grand-children. She was a devoted wife for the 35+ years she and Mark were together on this Earth. She loved going on road trips to Arizona and Minnesota to see family and friends as often as possible and just did her last trip to both places a few months before she passed.

Julie was preceded in death by her nephew Jamey, her biological father Robert, and stepfather Bill who she loved dearly.

Julie is survived by her husband, Mark (56), her seven children; Lesa (32), Jordan (31), Chelsey (29), Katrina (25), Honor (21), Joshua (14), and Gabriel (12), her three grandchildren; Ayden (16), Rowan (6), and Ayla (almost 2), her mother, Kathryn, her mother and father in law; Marcia and Pike Helleksen, and her seven siblings and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

Julie’s Celebration of life will be held on Tuesday, October 19th, 2021 at 5 p.m. at Christian Life Center, 2352 East Highway #193, Layton, UT 84040. Flowers can be sent to that same address and the service will be livestreamed and recorded for those who cannot be there physically. Dinner will be served after the service.

Julie’s family would like to thank each and every person who has reached out; sending kind words, encouragement, sharing stories, and for all the thoughts and prayers. There have been endless messages, comments, texts, and phone calls from the people that knew Julie during her fifty six years with us and here are a few favorites:

“Julie was the most magnificently exultant and charismatic woman I have ever met. I am fabulously richer for having ever known her. I am blessed to have met her.”

“Julie has meant so much to me over the years, truly one of the most genuine and lovely people I have ever known.”

“Julie has done so much for me and was one of the kindest people I have ever known. She made me feel so very good about being a mother. Julie was never judgmental; never once did I feel guilty about who I was as an imperfect human. I have told so many people about Julie. I have used her in so many motivational stories to encourage other people about becoming a mother even when times seem imperfect and scary. I am so blessed to have been honored to be graced with your very presence to be able to observe you with your family, your small children, and how you interact. Julie, you have influenced me in such a positive way, more than you could ever know. I hope you can see my love for you now and I will never ever stop telling stories about my Heroine Julie Helleksen.”

“Julie was one of the most welcoming, loving, generous people I have ever met and such an amazing woman of God. I love her so much and will be praying for your family.”