Helen Elizabeth (Rosser) McComb, 1901-1998

ROSSER, MCCOMB, GRAWE, ZARIFIS, PRUSSEL

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 2/24/2015 at 19:00:53

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Sunday, April 19, 1998

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa - Helen Elizabeth (Rosser) McComb, 97, of Independence, formerly of Manchester, departed this life to be with the Lord, Friday, April 17, 1998, in her home from complications of age, after a fruitful life.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Epworth United Methodist Church, with burial in Center Grove Methodist Cemetery, Dubuque. Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. today at Leonard-Muller Funeral Home, Manchester, and after 9:30 a.m. Monday at church.

Survivors include a daughter, Dorothy Mae (McComb) Grawe and her husband, James E. Grawe, of Independence; and four nephews, Donald P. Zarifis, of Waterloo, Alexander P. Zarifis, of Creston, James P. Zarifis, of Waterloo, and Frank P. Zarifis, of Cedar Rapids.

She was preceded in death by her parents, father in 1937 and mother in 1949; her husband, J. Clifford McComb in 1969; and her sister, Harriet Griffith (Rosser) Zarifis in 1979.

Helen was born March 31, 1901, at rural Peosta, the daughter of Rees G. and Elizabeth Sophia (Prussel) Rosser, pioneer residents of Vernon and Center Townships, Dubuque, County. She is the last of the older Rosser family. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1851, purchasing the farm in Dubuque County, near Peosta, in 1853, in what was then the wilds, living first in a log cabin and later building a nice home where Helen was born.

She received her education at the Johnson School, Vernon Township, Dubuque County; Epworth Seminary class of 1919; and the Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, becoming a teacher and teaching in the Dubuque County schools.

Helen was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church and was active in its work with the United Methodist Women.

On Feb. 14, 1922, she was united in marriage to J. Clifford McComb at rural Peosta, the couple farmed for many years.

Helen's life was a gift and a blessing. She lived it well and was an accomplished pianist, violinist and seamstress, loved her family, who were the great joys of her life, was a devoted and loving mother and will be greatly and dearly missed. Friends may, if they wish, make memorial contributions in her memory to Epworth United Methodist Church.