Obit: Larsen, Helen Katherine (1910 - 2006)

Contact:  Carol (Purkis) Mitte
Email: mcmitte@tds.net

Surnames: Larsen, Trantina, kodet, Allison, Dratt, Chadwick, Pace, Resong, Kuchenbecker, Rubeck

----Sources: Clark County Press, Neillsville WI Pg,10 May 24,2006

Larsen, Helen Katherine (14 March 1910 - 17 May 2006)

Helen Larsen, age 96, of Neillsville, died Wednesday May 17, 2006 at the Memorial Health & Rehabilitation Center.

Helen Katherine Larsen was born on March 14,1910 in Belvidere, South Dakota, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Trantina) Kodet. After two years in Southern States Teachers College in Springfield, S. D. She taught in a school of eight students and lived with the family. The children had to collect cow chips to keep warm and as a teacher of South Dakota she was issued $17 per month in "promissory notes" that came due ten years later when the state had enough tax money. The next year she taught Indian students in a new school. After meeting Walter Larsen, she taught one more year during the grasshopper plague and terrible depression. Walter and Helen were married Feb.12,1934 at The Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Belvidere. On March 5, 1934, they made the 678 mile trip to Wisconsin, rented a farm 10 miles south of Granton and lived there through two years of crop failure, drought and dust storms. In December of 1941 they bought the farm three miles east of Neillsville, raised their three children and in April of 1966 sold the farm to their son, Dennis and moved into Neillsville, Wis. Walter died on Sept. 27, 1992.

Helen was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and St. Cecelia's Circle. She enjoyed traveling, dancing, playing cards and bowling. She was a member of the Pleasant Ridge Homemakers and the Moose Club.

She is survived by three children, Jeanette (Richard) Allison, of Wisconsin Rapids; Douglas (Carolyn)Larsen, of Willard; and Dennis (Sandy) Larsen, of Neillsville; 11 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; a brother, Edward (Marjorie) Kodet, of Belvidere, S. D.; and a sister-in-law, Emma Larsen, of Neillsville, Wis.

Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Walter; her parents; a sister, Marie Dratt and a son-in-law, Robert Chadwick.

The Mass of Christian Burial for Helen was held Saturday, May 20, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Neillsville, Wis. The Celebrant was Fr. Woodrow H. Pace. Music was provided by Ronald Resong, organist; Rita Kuchenbecker, soloist and St. Mary's Choir. Internment was in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery.

Casket Bearers were: Dean Larsen, Dwayne Larsen, Greg Gress and Mike Rubeck.

The Gesche Funeral Home assisted Helen's family with funeral arrangements.