Obituaries : * Helen L. Gaddis; Ventura College Teacher

Helen L. Gaddis, a teacher of medical terminology at Ventura College and past president of the American Assn. of Medical Assistants, has died after a brief illness. She was 61.

Gaddis was born in Woodlyn, Penn., and worked for 34 years as a certified medical assistant, said her daughter, Lori Dill of Ojai.

She helped to start many young physicians’ practices, Dill said, but Gaddis especially loved her 15 years of teaching at Ventura College. “Everybody loved her there,” said her daughter, who also was a student. “She could make things interesting that weren’t, and that was always helpful. She was very good.”

In addition to her work in the medical profession, Gaddis was an avid seamstress, sewing magnificent quilts and intricately patterned T-shirts for her children and grandchildren, said her daughter-in-law, Debbie Gaddis.

“My 9-year-old son still sleeps with his,” Debbie Gaddis said of the quilt the boy’s grandmother had made for him.

Dill said that in a note her mother had left in the event of her death, Gaddis had written: “I want my family to remember me for being a good mother, good friend, good listener, good cook, and to remember that they are life to me.”

In addition to Dill, Gaddis is survived by her son, Larry Gaddis, Jr., of Ojai; her two brothers Stanley Valentine of Escondido and Bobby Congleton of Florida, and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be Thursday from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura, which is handling the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Samaritan’s Purse, International Christian Relief, based in Boone, N.C.