- Date Of Birth: May 21, 1923
- Date Of Death: April 29, 2017
- State: Idaho
Helmut Fritz Yurke, 93, died peacefully at the Life Care Center of Boise, following a brief hospitalization at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, on April 29, 2017.
He is survived by three sons, Bernard (Boise), Martin (Meridian), and Otto (Eagle); a cousin (Resi Lumpert, Platteville, Wisconsin); nieces, nephews, and other relatives in Germany. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Helga, and all six of his siblings in Germany.
Helmut was born on May 21, 1923 in Görlitz, Germany. He learned the trade of shoemaker. When 17 he was drafted into the German army. He served in World War II under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as a shoemaker during the North Africa campaign. He was captured by the British and turned over to the Americans. As a prisoner of war he was brought to the United States where he spent time in Alabama and New Jersey, learning English during his years there.
After the war he was repatriated to Germany and settled in Wittenberg where he met and married Helga Erben. His eldest son Bernard was born there. After Wittenberg became part of East Germany, the family became refugees in West Germany where his middle son Martin was born. In 1956 the family immigrated to the United States and settled down in Boise, under the sponsorship of the Orville Harden Family, and there the youngest son Otto was born.
Helmut worked as a well driller and at Emmett’s Boise Cascade sawmill before becoming a house painter.
Helmut often expressed an intense gratitude for having come to the United States and felt that this was God’s providence at work in his life. He referred to the Treasure Valley as the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey.
