Helen Elaine (Maillie) MOELLER

MAILLIE, MOELLER, BARKER, MUCHOW, HUNSBERGER, ANDERSEN, PHELPS, RYAN, SCOTT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/17/2011 at 12:23:58

October 13, 1921 -- July 25, 2010

Helen Moeller, 88, Strawberry Point, Iowa, died Sunday, July 25, 2010, at St. Lukes Hospital, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Helen Elaine Maillie was born Oct. 13, 1921, in Oelwein, Iowa, the daughter of James and Alice (Barker) Maillie. She graduated from Oelwein High School and attended Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. She married Lester Moeller on June 19, 1943, at the YMCA chapel at Texas A & M College, Station, Texas. She was a homemaker and writer.

She is survived by two sons, James, Stanley, Iowa, and Larry, Sacramento, Calif.; four daughters, Jeanne Muchow, Henderson, Nev., Patricia Hunsberger, Elgin, Iowa, JoAnne Moeller Andersen, Montpelier, N.D., and Barbara Phelps, Winfeld, Iowa; a sister, Miriam Ryan, Marion, Iowa; a brother, N. Alan Scott, Oceanside, Calif.; 12 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a brother, Berton; and a granddaughter, Diane.

Services: 11 a.m. Saturday, Zion Lutheran Church, Oelwein, with Rev. Charis Combs-Lay officiating.

Visitation: 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. Arrangements by Geilenfeld Funeral Home, Oelwein.

Memorials: Moeller Memorial Fund, Oelwein Public Library, Oelwein.

Burial: Floral Hills Memorial Gardens, Hazleton, Iowa.

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http://www.geilenfeldfh.com/moeller.html

Helen Elaine Maillie Moeller was born on October 13, 1921 in Oelwein, Iowa, the daughter of James T. and Alice (Barker) Maillie. She graduated from Oelwein High School and attended Grinnell College in Iowa. She was married to Lester Moeller on June 19, 1943, in the YMCA chapel of Texas A & M at College Station, Texas. She and her husband reared their family in Iowa and then moved to Rogers, Arkansas in 1983. In 1993 they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with family and friends. In 2001 they returned to Iowa where they lived at the Gernand Center in Strawberry Point.

Helen cherished her family and was a devoted wife, mother and friend. In her lifetime of writing she was a prolific letter-writer.

Her book, Tornado, My Experience with Mental Illness, was published by Fleming Revell in 1967 and by Arthur James, Ltd., London, in 1968. It earned for her the Biennial Award of the National League of American Pen Women. A copy of the book was placed in the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. The original manuscript is in the Oelwein Public Library. Her inspirational articles appeared in Lutheran, American Baptist, Catholic and non-denominational periodicals, as well as in Christian Parent and Christian Life magazines. Her writing credits include three unpublished novels and her most recent works, The Best of All Trips, a Celebration of Life and Living With Pain. Helen was listed in Contemporary Authors, The Writers Directory, and Who’s Who of American Women.

For many years she and her family were members of Zion Lutheran Church in Oelwein. Helen held various positions for several organizations over the years including past president, NE Iowa Branch of the National League of American Pen Women; Readlyn reporter for Oelwein Register in 1955; A Look at a Book, Oelwein Register, 1956; Belles for Freedom, Farm Bureau Spokesman; Member Mayor Louis Luneburg’s original Youth Guidance Council; Church secretary, Zion Lutheran, Oelwein; Secretary, Moeller Construction, Oelwein; chairman, Oelwein Very Special Arts Festival; co-chairman, Fayette County Very Special Arts Festival; Editor/Writer, Fayette County Bicentennial History, Out of the Midwest, A Portrait; and past president, NW Arkansas Branch, National League of American Pen Women.

She is survived by two sons; James of Stanley, Iowa and Larry of Sacramento, California; four daughters; Jeanne Muchow of Henderson, Nevada, Patricia Hunsberger of Elgin, Iowa, JoAnne Moeller Andersen of Montpelier, North Dakota and Barbara Phelps of Winfeld, Iowa; 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren; a sister, Miriam Ryan of Marion, Iowa; a brother, N. Alan (Fran) Scott of Oceanside, California; two sisters-in-law, Faye Maillie of Columbia, South Carolina and Marldine Moeller of Waverley; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be sent to the Moeller Memorial Fund, Oelwein Public Library, Oelwein, Iowa.

SERVICES: 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at Zion Lutheran Church in Oelwein, Iowa with Rev. Charis Combs-Lay officiating. Burial at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens in rural Hazleton.

VISITATION: 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, 2010 also at Zion Lutheran Church, Oelwein.