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Tove Marie Wokter Helmers died 6 November 2001, after having been ill for a considerable time. She was born 15 April 1939, in the county of Borge in øtfold where she also grew up. Having taken her “A-levels”, she worked as a teacher in Reine, Lofoten, for one year, and then completed her medical studies.
Her first position as a doctor was in Fredrikstad, where she worked for two years. During this period, she came to a decision as regards her choice of profession. Her interest turned to the human mind, and in 1969, she moved to Dikemark Hospital in order to become a psychiatrist. She remained there for eleven years, and the area which she chose for in-depth studies was psychogerontology.
In 1982, she began her work as a specialist physician at the Nic Waals Institute in Oslo, where she remained as long as her health permitted. Apart from the purely curative work, her main task was of a consultative nature involving a wide variety of issues. She is remembered as an extremely friendly, interested, undogmatic and thoughtful colleague, with a creative balance between common sense and fantasy. She was famous for her talent for formulations and clarifications, and it was obvious that she was able to make use of her considerable analytic abilities.
It did not come as a surprise that she applied for psychoanalytic training which she then completed in 1989. Later, she became a committee member and was given educational tasks.
Tove knew a great deal, and was interested in many things. Her cultural interests included French studies and she frequently attended concerts. She was also a nature lover. She had a cabin in Skjeberg and was especially attracted to the light which shone over this mild and friendly landscape in øtfold. She also experienced this in Svalbard where she stayed one winter with her family when she was nine years old. From that time on, she was totally fascinated by this magical light which had quite a hypnotic effect on her. But she also used nature.
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