Helen Veronica Liss Smart
Helen was born on February 4, 1927, at home on the family Homestead in northern Alberta, Canada, during what was known as the Lantern Era. Electricity did not come to the Liss farm until the mid-1950s.
Born in a remote area northwest of Edmonton, in the house her father built, with a wood burning stove as the only heat and kerosene lamps for light. No plumbing, no telephone and unpaved roads.
With two older brothers, Stanley and Vlad, she was followed by brothers Edward and Ted, sister Valeria and brother John. Helen was the last survivor of this family.
Twenty two years later Helen married her first husband. Eight years after the end of WWII, the farm had a phone but still no power or paved roads. Many of these times can be found in Helen’s first book, The Intrepid Fox. Including the charming story of how John “courted” Mary. Both had emigrated from Poland as children but had never met.
Helen was particularly eager to start school. She had to leave very early, even before dawn in the winter, and walk 31/2 miles on a path cut through the woods since there were no paved roads
She was an eager and bright student. Her eighth grade teacher said she was the brightest student she ever had, when we met her years later at a reunion in the tiny village of Sangudo
She attended the University of Alberta, as did four of her brothers and her sister. She became a teacher of grades one through eight, in a one room schoolhouse, with a potbellied stove in the middle. Electric lights, no plumbing, but there were two outhouses.
In 1955 a team of American petroleum geologists came thorough looking for oil. No oil, but one found Helen. Lytton F Ivanhoe and Helen were married in August 1956 and immediately left for Taft California where “Buster” was working. In her second book Lord Save Me from Taft, she tells of her new life and becoming stepmother to a son Roderick (8) and a daughter Cheryl (4). They soon moved to Bakersfield and Helen resumed teaching.
Early in the 1960s, Buster was now able to work outside of the country. Over a ten-year period they worked in Bogota, Columbia, Citi Bu Said, Tunisia, Tel Aviv Israel, Istanbul, Turkey, and Rome Italy. This period of her life led to her third book, Rocks in her Head or How I Became a Rolling Stone.
Finally retiring, they returned to Bakersfield. Ever trying new avenues, Helen soon entered real estate and became a fully licensed independent agent. Over the next ten years she became very successful. In 1988 they retired and moved to Santa Barbara.
Finally, after forty five years of a now failing marriage, Helen filed for divorce and went to Canada for six months while the settlement was reached.
Returning to Santa Barbara, Helen entered single life, but soon she met Hugh Smart one Sunday afternoon at the SB Art Museum. They each immediately knew this was special. They married on October 24,1998. They built a new home in Goleta, and in the years since then traveled extensively.
In 2013 they moved to Valle Verde Retirement Community and enjoyed meeting many new friends . Helen’s health began to fail in 2023. She died peacefully at home October 18, 2024 with her beloved Hugh at her bedside.
Her stepson Roderick died in 1987. Her devoted step daughter lives nearby in Ojai and visits frequently.
When Hugh dies, their commingled ashes will be interred at Santa Barbara Cemetery. The engraving on their headstone reads: “Bound forever by a love found in the autumn of our lives”
Helen will forever be remembered for her joyous smile, and her unbounded selfless generosity.
Few of her new friends will know of her remarkable life and accomplishments, but all who knew her
will always smile when they think of her.