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Friends, family remember Love Kitchen co-founder Helen Ashe

Ashe's funeral was held Saturday afternoon.

Stories of lessons learned and lives touched filled Fifth Avenue Baptist Church's sanctuary on Saturday afternoon remembering the life of Helen Ashe, who died earlier this week.

"She sought to open her arms and hug and help Knoxville's homeless, the hungry, the helpless, the hopeless and the homebound," Helen's grandson, Sean Cash, said. "She adopted not just a city, but the city's people, especially people who simply needed more family - one, maybe two more grandmothers."

Helen Ashe accomplished countless things in her 89 years. She and her twin sister, Ellen, started the Love Kitchen in 1986, giving Knoxville's needy a life worth of love.

MORE | The Love Kitchen celebrates 32 years of service, honoring its founders

"There is but one Father, and that is the Father in Heaven. Number two, he taught us there is but one race, and that's the human race. Number three, he taught us not to take the last piece of bread from the table. Somebody may come by that needs it," Helen once said back in 2011.

Cash and Love Kitchen board president Patrick Riggins reflected on Helen's life and the impact she leaves behind. Riggins started working with Helen and Ellen at the Love Kitchen 18 years ago. He and the volunteers at the Love Kitchen continue Helen and Ellen's belief that everybody is God's somebody.

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"She put so many people before her, Helen did, and Ellen both. And now she's being honored in heaven by the savior himself," Riggins said.

Helen's life was marked by service and obedience. Today, the world sure could use the lessons she taught her grandchildren.

After the ceremony on Saturday, a burial was held at Sherwood Memorial Gardens on Alcoa Highway.

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