Helen Patton Cawyer's Obituary
Helen Adair Patton Cawyer was born on Manhattan Island, New York, on December 20, 1936. She was the daughter of Helen Houston Patton (later Helen Houston Book) and Robert Caldwell Patton. Her maternal grandparents were David Franklin Houston (who served as President Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of Agriculture and later Secretary of the Treasury), and Helen Beall Houston. Her uncle, Lawrence Reid Houston served as legal advisor to the OSS and CIA.
Helen grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she attended the Greenwich Country Day School. She spent summers in Long Island. In July of 1952, her mother moved the family to Ramona, California, where Helen graduated high school in 1955. After that, she moved to Escondido, California, attending Palomar College for a bit, worked as a “car hop” and then later for Sears. Upon her marriage to Richard Cawyer in 1958, she moved to Ramona where they owned a farming business and raised a family. She and Richard divorced in 1984.
Helen enjoyed rock and roll music (especially Credence Clearwater Revival and Elvis), antiquing, and researching family genealogies. She worked at the Ramona Unified School District from 1977 until she retired after 2001. In 2008 she moved to Julian, CA, where she lived for a little over eleven years.
Helen passed away on November 29th 2025 in Escondido, CA after a long illness. She is survived by her four daughters, Lisa Cawyer, Gail McMorran, Janet Cawyer and Rebecca Cawyer, and by her sister Katherine Parent and brother Jonathon Book, four grandchildren (Brandon, Keith, Rachel and Allison) and seven great-grandchildren (Parker, Peyton, Wyatt, Jackson, Aiden, Noelle and Nicholas).
An informal memorial will be held at the Alhiser-Comer mortuary in Escondido, California on December 20th, 2025 from 2-3pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Burn Institute of San Diego (https://burninstitute.org) or their favorite charity.
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