Helen Aileen (Cook) Neal (2014)
NEAL, COOK, ATHERTON, STANLEY, JOHANNESEN, MCCLINTON, SHEARER, SONNEN, BARNETT, WELLS
Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 5/6/2014 at 12:21:56
Johnson Farmily Funeral Home
Dexter, Iowa
Tuesday, May 06, 2014HELEN A. NEAL,
Born in Winterset, Iowa on Aug 5, 1919
Departed on May 5, 2014 and resided in Stuart, IaHelen Aileen Neal, 94, of Stuart formerly of Dexter, passed away on Monday, May 5, 2014 at the Stuart Community Care Center. Visitation will be held from 5-7 P.M. on Wednesday, May 7th at the Johnson Family Funeral Home in Dexter. Funeral service will be held at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday, May 8th at the First Presbyterian Church in Dexter. Burial will be in the Dexter City Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be directed to Stuart Community Care Center and/or the Dexter First Presbyterian Church, in care of Johnson Family Funeral Home, PO Box 246, Stuart, Iowa 50250. Online condolences may be left at www.johnsonfamilyfuneralhome.com .
Helen Aileen Cook was born August 5, 1919, the third child of Walter S. Cook and Leah Minerva Stanley in their family home in Winterset, Iowa. She died peacefully on May 5, 2014 at the Community Care Center in Stuart Iowa. She graduated from Redfield High School in 1936 and received a rural teacher's certificate from Iowa State Teacher's College (now UNI). She taught two years at the two-story school by Bear Creek Church, and then for several years at Union #5.
Helen and Willis Kenneth Neal were united in marriage December 27, 1942 in her family home north of Earlham. They celebrated 66 years of marriage before his death on June 3, 2009. Bill left shortly after the wedding to serve in the Army Air Corps, flying many dangerous missions over the HUMP. He returned to the states in July, 1945, to learn for the first time that their first child, Judith Kay Neal, was born in May, followed by a second daughter, Carol Jane Neal, born a year later on July 13.
They farmed south of Dexter. Helen returned to the classroom at Earlham Community School when their daughters were in High School. After many years on the farm, they moved to State Street in Dexter in 1989, where they lived until Bill's death in 2009.
Helen taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and was involved in many church activities, including Presbyterian Women. She was an ordained Elder. She also helped with 4-H. She also managed a huge garden - canning and freezing - and cooking big meals for the men during planting and harvesting seasons.
During their life together, Helen and Bill carried congregate meals for over 20 years, often to people much younger than they. They also enjoyed square dancing, playing bridge, entertaining friends, eating pie in Des Moines, and volunteering at the Community Care Center where Helen has lived since Bill's death in 2009. She often visited the elderly and shut-ins even while at the Care Center.
Their greatest joy was their family. Bill and Helen attended every event in which the girls participated, and went to the grandchildren's games and concerts as often as possible. They loved it when the grandchildren came to stay for a few days on the farm; and Helen had two bulletin boards displaying that family at the Care Center.
Preceding her in death are her husband Bill and their parents, Walter and Leah Cook and Kenneth and Ruby Neal; brothers Carroll and Wayne Cook and sister Marie Cook Atherton; and an infant grandson, in 1976. Leaving behind to grieve her loss are daughter Judy (Bob) Johannesen of Argyle, TX; daughter Jane (Tom) McClinton of Storm Lake, IA; five grandchildren: Sean (Angie) McClinton of Mankato, MN; Shannon (Brian) Shearer of Castle Rock, CO; Shane (Michaelyn) McClinton of Des Moines, IA; Trace Johannesen of Dallas, TX; Kristen (Jarrett) Sonnen of Virginia Beach, VA; and ten great-grandchildren.
Also surviving are Helen's sister Velma (Joe) Barnett of Salem, OR; and sisters-in-law Doris Neal of Dexter, IA, Betty Neal Wells and Florence Cook, of Stuart; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and friends.
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