Helen Sportsman

Helen B. Sportsman, 93, of Kansas City, MO, passed away on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. Friends may call on the family at 11:00 on Wednesday, December 27, at the Lakeside Chapel at Terrace Park Funeral Home in Kansas City, MO, 801 NW 108th Street, Kansas City, MO. A sweet home-going service will follow at 12:00.

Helen was born August 15, 1924 in Olean, Missouri, to Harvey Carl and Stella Jane Scrivner. After attending Clay Elementary School in Kansas City, Helen graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City in 1942.

She married William Franklin Gardner and had a daughter, Janet. William died in service to our country during World War II. Helen remarried a few years later to Weldon L. Sportsman and adopted two sons, Beric and Grant. Helen helped put Weldon through medical school and raised her two boys in Smithville, MO. She and Weldon were married for 53 years before his death in 2003.

Her involvement in church was a central part of her life. It began in Centropolis, where she was baptized. She continued her involvement in church the remainder of her life, at Linden Baptist Church in Gladstone, at First Baptist Church in Smithville, and finally at Northgate Baptist Church in Kansas City. In all the churches, she and her husband held leadership positions. She also taught the first-grade children in Sunday School.

Helen served for more than one term as President of the Medical Auxiliary. She also held several positions of leadership in the state level of the American Red Cross.

Helen and Weldon had a house on the Lake of the Ozarks where they enjoyed many fun times with family and friends.

During the last three and a half years of her life she lived at The Gardens on Barry Road where she received loving attention.

Helen Sportsman is preceded in death by her father Harvey and her mother Stella, her brother Harold Scrivner and her sister Opal Carlin, and her husband Dr. Weldon L. Sportsman.

She is survived by her daughter Jan Harbour and her husband, Brian, of Richardson, TX; her son Beric Sportsman and his wife, Pam, of Liberty; her son Grant Sportsman and his wife, Janis, of Smithville; her grandchildren Jay Harbour and his wife Elizabeth, Collin Harbour and his wife, Jeana, Cara Harbour, Marty Harbour, Adam Sportsman, Carmella Sportsman, and Chance Sportsman; and by her great-grandchildren Marlee Sawyer, Audrey Harbour, Lily Harbour, Rauley Harbour, and Weldon Harbour.