Louise B. Helm, age 75, life came to a peaceful passing on March 9, 2019, at the Fall River Hospital in her beloved Black Hills where she lived the last 25 years considering it her place of peace and belonging.   Louise was born July 22, 1943, to Paul and Louise Bachschmid in Washington, D.C.  Louise spent her childhood in Arlington, VA, where she graduated from Lakefield High School in 1961.  She went on to nursing school in New York graduating and starting her nursing career as an operating room nurse with various employments in and around the Virginia area.  Her greatest professional endeavor, which became her own personal journey of healing, came to her in her 40's when she found her way into the field of chemical dependency and addiction counseling.  She so enjoyed helping others in their recovery journey as well as supporting the family and friends who also so need loving support and encouragement in the process of help and healing.  Louise shared her gift of helping others after she herself had lived through difficult relationships.   Having herself felt the heartache of loss at the traumatic death of her son Denny at the age of 11 and having regretted years later the impact of this loss on her youngest son Matthew she made it her later life work to appreciate the impact and influence of grief and loss on the trajectory of one's life.     It was through a friendship forged with Wanda while working at Keystone Treatment Center in Canton, SD that she came to know the Black Hills and would make this her forever home.  The spiritual wellness she discovered in the Black Hills was exactly what she had been needing in her life.  Additionally, her employment as a chemical dependency counselor at the Hot Springs VA Medical Center in 1995 was the highlight of her career.  She remained dedicated to this work and her love of helping veterans up until health would not allow leading her to retirement in 2006.   She enjoyed her retired years reading, traveling to see friends, visiting her granddaughter, Michaela when she could, and going to garage sales.  She welcomed in to her retired years the opportunity to fill her heart and the spaces of loneliness in her love of her dogs Pete, Gracie, Oddie and Faith, who benefited from her warmth and kindness as much as she did there's.    Through Louise's work and travels, which included a year jaunt around the country where she also fell in love with Alaska, she met and remained connected with many good friends over the years who are grateful to have shared in her life and benefited from her friendship.  Louise was best known for her sense of humor, her ability to listen, to care for others openly and without judgement, to see the wounds of others as sources of strength and resilience and to be an honest, forthright and loyal friend.  We will miss her dearly but we know she's free of pain and resting peacefully in being reunited with Denny and her dogs.   She is survived by her brother Paul of Kentucky, her son Matthew of Florida and her granddaughter Michaela of South Carolina.  In keeping with her wishes, Louise wanted no memorial service just a celebration of her life and a time of remembrance at a later date in Custer State Park.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley's Funeral Home in Hot Springs.