Helen was born in Claremore, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of homemaker Hazel Carr Robson and a prosperous banker/rancher Leland Stanford (L. S.) Robson. She was the valedictorian of her high school class in Claremore, Oklahoma, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma at Norman with a degree in finance. She married Sam Walton on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1943 in Claremont. They had met in a bowling alley where her dad took her. She once said in a TV interview that upon marrying, they agreed to avoid family squabbling at all costs.