Mother always willing to help, friends say.(News)

Byline: Amy McLaughlin Daily Herald Staff Writer

After the Vietnam War, Eileen DeWyze volunteered to take in two Vietnamese families who were fleeing their country.

Friends remember Eileen DeWyze, who was killed Wednesday, as a caring woman who would open her house on Oakton Street to those in need.

When her son John - the youngest of her five children - brought his family to live with her after her husband died more than 15 years ago, it worked out well for mother and son, friends and neighbors say.

But something was going wrong for the last few years, and friends said John had been depressed.

Yet they were still shocked Friday …