With a last name as unique as Helge, I always thought that our family was the only one in the country with that spelling. So the chances that there are other Helge's out there is pretty rare and someone else named Brian is almost unthinkable. That was the case until someone used my contact page the other day and asked if I was Reverend Brian Helge. Yeah, there was a Rev. Brian Helge once. Wait, that means there was a Brian Helge before me. I always thought I was the first only one.

The person inquiring was trying to find him as he was last in a Lutheran church in Chicago a few years back. After a few emails back and forth (one of which inquiring to how they actually pronounced his last name), we both learned that he has recently passed away.

I'm still following up to see see if I can get in touch with any of his family members to get any more details on either the pronunciation of the name or more details about other Helge's out there.