03/29/2026
Nancye Evelyn Smoot O'Brien Helmer 105, Mom, fell asleep in Christ and rose to eternal life on the evening of March 26, 2026, at her son's home in Leitchfield, Kentucky.
Mom was born to the late Sterling Wilson Smoot and Nannie Aimeta Kenney Smoot on October 20, 1920, in Moorefield, Nicholas County, Kentucky, and was raised by her parents in Nicholas County. She was the sister of the late Elzie Noel Clark and Wilburn L. Clark, and of the late Rector W., Orris K., and Matthew R. Smoot. She was married to John Paul O'Brien, Sr., and Edward Helmer, both of whom predeceased her. She is the loving Mother of three children, all of whom are living: Patrick J. O'Brien, Sr.,(Joye) of Lexington, Kentucky; Anita Faye O'Brien McCormick (Ron) of California, Kentucky; and John P. O'Brien, Jr. formerly of Northern Kentucky, now residing in Leitchfield, Kentucky.
After she and Mr. O'Brien married, she lived from the late 1930s, until 2021, in Campbell, Kenton, and Boone Counties in Northern Kentucky. From September, 2021, until she passed away, she resided at her son's home.
Mom attended schools in Nicholas County, including the Miranda, Cane Run, and Carlisle elementary schools; she graduated from Carlisle High School in 1937, at the age of 16. She worked for the Kroger Company during World War II; for B & B Electric in Covington, Kentucky, after the war; and for many years with the Kentucky Department of Revenue and the United States Treasury Department, from which she retired in October, 1982.
Family and friends alike say that Mom could light up a room with her presence and warmth, with her welcoming, adventurous spirit. She never forgot a friend and seemed to never meet a stranger. She had a loving and generous heart, and yearned to brighten the lives of, and bring joy to family, friends, and even complete strangers, through her God-given talents of music and needlework, and through volunteer work. She heeded her Savior's instruction to not hide her gifts under a bushel basket, but to be a light in the world around her (Matthew 5:14-16).
Mom was an accomplished vocalist. During her early youth she sang in her Methodist church choir, was a soloist in elementary school programs, and was a member of her high school's chorus. She was a member of the Federal Bicentennial Chorus in 1976; the Sweet Adelines; the casts of several musical productions of the Kincaid Regional Theater, Falmouth, Kentucky: Shenandoah, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, and Oklahoma; the cast of the Cotton Follies to benefit Redwood School in Northern Kentucky; and the Community Chorus of Florence, Kentucky. She was a choir member at All Saints Church, Walton, Kentucky, and, when she was in her 80s, a member of the choir of Saints Peter and Paul Church, California, Kentucky. When Mom was 90 years old, she and a friend and pianist, Christine Parker, recorded a CD of traditional Christian hymns. She enjoyed playing her Hohner harmonica for family and friends, and could play piano and organ by ear.
Mom was a creative and prolific quilter, crocheter, knitter, and seamstress, all of which she learned from her mother. Her needlework was a labor of love. She designed and sewed many dresses for family members. Beginning at her retirement in 1982, and continuing for the next four decades, she crocheted dozens of colorful afghans and handstitched dozens of very detailed quilts, completing her final quilt when she was 98 years old and her final afghan when she was 100. She gave nearly all of the quilts and afghans to family members and friends. Twenty of her quilts and afghans were awarded ribbons, including four blue ribbons, at the Campbell County Fair. She knitted dozens of doilies and a queen-sized bedspread for her daughter. She crocheted and knitted winter caps, scarves, and sweaters for family and friends, and caps for infants, who were being discharged from NICUs.
Mom gave to others through volunteer work, as well. Following the naval service of her husband, Mr. O'Brien, during World War II, she was an active member of the Women's Auxiliaries of the VFW and American Legion. She gave of her time and companionship as a volunteer with the Adult Day Program of St. Charles Nursing Home. Even in her late 90s, she read to folks who had impaired vision.
Mom was a fine baker and confectioner, which she also learned from her mother. Her specialties were Christmas cookies, cream pull candy, chocolate fudge, cranberry -walnut fudge, and blackberry jam cakes with caramel icing, all of which she enjoyed making and giving to family and friends.
In her 'spare time', well into her 90s, she was an avid player of bingo and 500 Rummy. She bowled for several years for teams through her workplace.
Mom found tremendous joy in being with her children and grandchildren. In addition to her three beloved children, she is the loving grandmother of seven surviving grandchildren: Patrick Jamie O'Brien, Jr. (Shirley), Laura Leslie O'Brien Collins (Gary), Wendy Helene O'Brien DeHart (Bob), Joan Marie Wilbers McCall (Alex), James Wilbers (Michele), Nicholas Michael O'Brien, and Susan Elizabeth O'Brien Deletti (Garrett). She is the loving great-grandmother of Katy and Conor O'Brien; Ethan and Patrick Marlowe; Alexandra Martin Adkins; James, Joseph, Natalie, Jeremiah, and Olivia Wilbers; Alexander DeHart; and Rebecca Elise Thomas O'Brien, Gabriel Nicholas Deletti, and Rory O'Brien Deletti; and the loving great-great-grandmother of several great-great-grandchildren. Three beloved grandchildren, Michael J. Wilbers, Josephine Maria O'Brien, and John Paul O'Brien, III, predeceased her. She is also survived by double-first cousins Ann "Roonie" Shea Smith and Sue Shea Schartzer, whose late mother, Christine Smoot Shea of Millersburg, Kentucky, had a lifelong, close relationship with Mom; by nieces, Erin O'Brien Richardson and Linda Smoot Doyle; and by a stepson, Mike Helmer (Linda). Even after she was no longer able to initiate communication or to express herself clearly, many dear friends faithfully and regularly stayed in touch with her: Ann Record, Stan and Anita Geiger, Norma Rebholz, and the Schadler family of California, Kentucky; choir members and the Ladies of Saints Peter and Paul Church, California, Kentucky; and Wanda Elliot of Dry Ridge, Kentucky. Also while Mom was living in Leitchfield, Benna O''Brien visited her regularly, and Sue Shea Shartzer and Paula Helmer Hopewell wrote to her often.
The O'Brien family expresses its heartfelt gratitude to Alla Kozina, who gave our Mom outstanding, consistent, patient, and compassionate personal care from October, 2022, until her passing, enabling Mom to live in comfort and dignity, free from the confines of a nursing home. We also express our heartfelt gratitude to Mom's hospice-care nurse, Alicia Stinson, who faithfully cared for Mom over the last 21 months of her life on Earth.
Visitation for our Mom is scheduled at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, California, Kentucky, from 9am to 10:30am, April 1, 2026. The Rosary will be prayed for her immediately after visitation, followed by a requiem Mass, presided over by Msgr. Gerald Reinersman. After Mass Mom is to be laid to rest beside John P. O'Brien, Sr., in Peach Grove Cemetery, Highway 154, Peach Grove, Kentucky. Pallbearers are to include her son, John O'Brien, Jr., Mike Helmer; Alla Kozina, her caregiver for the last three and half years of her life; Laura Leslie O'Brien Collins; Jim Wilbers, Kevin Schadler and Kaden Schadler. Honorary pallbearers are to be Patrick J. O'Brien, Sr., Gary Collins, in absentia, Sue Shea Shartzer, Benna O'Brien, in absentia, and Susan O'Brien Deletti, in absentia. In the afternoon, family and friends are invited to gather in the Social Hall of Saints Peter and Paul School, for fellowship and to view a music and photo video of Mom's life. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the music program of Saints Peter and Paul Church and School, California, Kentucky.
The world has lost, but Heaven has gained, this remarkable lady, our Mom and Grandma, who brought beauty, joy, and love to the lives of those whom God brought into her life. We all may justly be grateful that God shared her with His people on Earth for a little while. We know confidently that our Lord, through Christ's redeeming grace, has lifted her up to her eternal home in Heaven, where she is now reunited with her family and friends who have gone before her and have waited for her. Yet, she is, and ever will be, deeply missed by all who love and honor her, until we ourselves rejoin her where there is no sorrow, no tears.
Ve con Dios, nuestra querida mamá, y por favor saluda a nuestro querido papá, John Paul, Senior, y los todos de nuestra familia en el cielo.
*Each part of Mom's name is significant: Nancy Evelyn Smoot was the name which her parents gave her; she added the "e" to the end of Nancy when she was 10 years old. O'Brien was her first married surname, the surname of her children, and a middle name which she used occasionally during her final twenty years. Helmer was her second married surname.
Cooper Funeral Home is honored to be serving the family.
