Helena Behnken 1885-1954

BEHNKEN, FEHNERS, CROSS, SIEBELS, POPPE, REINKEN, ORTGIES

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 9/5/2022 at 14:18:41

September 13, 1954 - The Anamosa Journal

Mrs. Helena F. Behnken, 69, died Saturday, Sept. 11, at Mercy hospital, Anamosa, after a short illness. Mrs. Behnken lived on a farm near Anamosa.

Funeral was conducted at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, at Goettsch funeral home with Rev. H. E. Hahn officiating. Burial was in Prairie Hill cemetery.

Casket bearers were Albert Oltmans, Edward Herren, Budd Cook, J. F. May, Emil Hamer and J. E. Johnson.

Helena Frederica Behnken, daughter of John D. Fehners and Helena Nee Hedden, was born Oct. 23, 1885, in Oldensburg, Germany. She was baptized in early infancy in the Lutheran church in Germany.

Mrs. Behnken came to the United States in 1889, and in 1900 she was confirmed in the Castle Grove Lutheran church. She was married to Carl Henry Behnken, Scotch Grove, Oct. 13, 1904, at Castle Grove Lutheran church.

Couple spent their married life farming in the following communities: near Rockanville, Saskatchewan, Canada; Castle Grove, Prairieburg, In Wisconsin, near Scotch Grove, and then near Anamosa.

Mr. and Mrs. Behnken were the parents of five children. Three surviving are Harm, Anamosa; Gerd, Fort Hood, Tex.; and Mrs. Bertie (August) Cross, Anamosa. Two sons, John and Ben preceded her in death.

Preceding her in death also were her husband, who died Nov. 7, 1922, and three brothers, John, Herman and Martin Fehners, and two half-sisters, Mrs. Fannie Siebels and Mrs. Mary Poppe.

Others surviving are a step-sister, Mrs. Etta Reinken, Monticello; a half-brother, Harm Schafer, and a half-sister, Mrs. Dena Ortgies, both of Anamosa, and four grandchildren, Ronald and Richard Behnken, Manchester, and Chester and Jimmie Cross, Anamosa.