Helen Virginia LeFebvre 1917-2000

LEFEBVRE SWARTOUT ZABEL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 2/16/2010 at 02:18:26

Mapleton Press
20 January 2000

Former Owner of Laundromat Dies January 14

Helen V. LeFebvre, age 82, of Mapleton, died Friday, January 14, 2000, at Onawa, Iowa.

Services were held 10:30 a.m. Monday, January 17, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mapleton with Rev. Edmund Tiedeman and Rev. Bruce LeFebvre officiating. Burial was in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Mapleton. A rosary was held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday by St. Mary’s Guild and a vigil wake service was held at 7:00 p.m. at the Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.

Helen Virginia LeFebvre was born July 21, 1917, in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Albert Le Roy and Pearl Irene (Swartout) Zabel. On August 2, 1935, she was united in marriage to Leonard FeFebvre in San Francisco, California. The couple lived in San Francisco for seven years returning to Mapleton, Iowa in 1942. In 1948 they started farming in the area. In 1956, they moved back into Mapleton and started the Queen’s Laundromat that she and her husband owned and operated for several years. Helen also worked at the Mapleton Trust and Savings Bank. Leonard died August 28, 1990.

Helen was an active member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mapleton where she was also a member of St. Mary’s Guild. She served as head of the Quilting Club for the Guild for several years and also volunteered for years as secretary for Father Bruch. She and Leonard enjoyed square dancing. She loved to go boating on Blue Lake at Onawa, Iowa. Helen was kind to the many children that knew her and was often known as “Aunt Helen” to them.

Those survivors left to cherish her memory include two sons, Larry and his wife, Mary Etta McCarthy of Columbia, South Carolina and Jim and his wife, Jaclyn of Metamora, Illinois; seven grandchildren and four great- grandchildren, along with numerous other relatives, neighbors and good friends.

Along with her husband, Helen was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Grayce Gries.

Pallbearers were Tom LeFebvre, Mark LeFebvre, Gary LeFebvre, Ed LeFebvre, Terry Siebersma and Bill LeFebvre.