Helen Marie (Brack) DALE

BRACK, DALE, GALYARDT, GRANT, PAGE, LOVE, MISEGADIS, JORDAN, BEYNE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/28/2008 at 11:55:01

[former resident of Kanawha, Iowa]

September 9, 2008
The Coloradoan, Colorado

Helen Marie Brack Dale, 89, was born in Galatia, Kan., on Aug. 9, 1919, and passed away on Aug. 17 at Crestview Manor in Beavercreek, Ohio. The youngest of four children born to Ben F. Brack and Marie Galyardt Brack, Helen was preceded in death by her two brothers Henry and Leland and her sister, Lucille Grant. On Jan. 21, 1938, Helen married Dr. Joseph Edward Dale II in Castle Rock. Her husband, Joe Dale, passed away Oct. 28, 1991, in Fort Collins. Helen and Joe were long term residents of Garden City, Kan., and Fort Collins. She was a gracious lady and will be remembered for her devotion to her Church, to her family, and service to her community. She is survived by her five children and their families, J. Jed and Gail (Page) Dale of Beavercreek, Ohio, Don and Karen (Love) Dale of Coronado, Calif., Mary (Dale) and Eldon Misegadis of Great Bend, Kan., Tom and Jane (Jordan) Dale of St John, Kan., and Sarah (Dale) and Harry Beyne of Northbrook Ill. Helen was also survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Memorial Services were held at Tobias Funeral Home in Beavercreek at 11 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2008. Friends and family may gather at 10 a.m. Private Interment will be on Sept. 29, 2008, at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins. Memorial Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. at St. Johns Lutheran Church on 29 Sept. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that charitable contributions be made to St. John's Lutheran Church, 305 E. Elizabeth St. Fort Collins, Colorado 80524, or the First United Methodist Church, 1106 N. Main St., Garden City, KS 67846

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Helen Marie Brack Dale, known to all as "Helen" was our Mother and to all who knew her she was a friend. Helen recently died. She was, as used to be said, well-stricken in years, 89 of them, and while avoiding some of the afflictions that often accumulate in elderly bodies she did not escape scot free as spinal arthritis plagued the latter years along with recurring TIAs and diabetic ills; so it's safe to say, Helen wasn't sorry when the Heavenly Angel tapped her shoulder on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008, and said it was time to go.

In earlier ages, much was made of ars moriendi, the art of dying, of having "a good death." Nowadays, science often overwhelms that art. When death approaches the elderly on measured tread, they are apt to become tangled in the toils of modern medicine. Then the dying are pushed to the side of the stage as medicine becomes the leading actor in the drama. That is no condition to be in when the "summons comes to join the innumerable caravan."

Medicine is fantastic at helping ward off infections and diseases in bodies that, absent drugs, would thrive. However, medicine becomes problematic when it resists not the body's afflictions but the body itself - when the body is no longer compelled by an essential vitality, and instead tries to subside.

In this downward turn of life's trajectory, the mind and body can be mysteriously complicit. Helen's life changed some when her husband, Joe, passed on in '91. She had cared for him for a number of years earlier as major surgeries had minimized him, like a photograph left exposed to the sunlight. This was one measure of the woman known as Helen.

Helen's life began in Galatia, Kan., on Aug. 9, 1919. The early years became and remained the foundation for Helen as her father and mother were the offspring of German immigrants from the Volga region of Russia. They had joined an exodus from the steppes to the plains of Kansas in 1866 and did not speak English. As Helen grew her parents moved first to Hoisington then to Winfield, Kan. Not only was Helen the youngest of four children but the family was truly an extended one and close as her father, Ben F. Brack had his brother, Everett Alfred living with them while in Hoisington and Ben's sister, Aunt Alta, lived with them in Winfield, Kan., and later when they moved to Fort Collins. In Fort Collins Helen was a Lambkin, the name for students at Fort Collins High. The stock market crashed, the Depression went into full swing, and Helen's father, Ben, had a major heart attack. Ben and Marie moved back to Kansas and Helen roomed with her older sister while she finished high school. The knowledge of life and its' opportunities were lessons learned from Ben and Marie. Ben Brack's character personified a true study of the quiet but strong, polite but tenacious businessman. An insurance business that was built during the depression only to be sold to Bill Galyardt because of illness did not stop him. Recovering from his heart attack, Marie drove him to farms around Kansas as he secured oil and gas leases. As the depression drew to a close WW II was beginning and about this time Ben helped discover the Hugoton Gas Field and started his oil company. He's remembered in the Oil and Gas Hall of Fame in Great Bend, Kan.

Helen was very bright and secured a full scholarship to CSU. She also decided to get married at eighteen in Castle Rock, to Joe. There was a stipulation to her scholarship; she had to maintain an "A" average to retain it. It's not surprising that she did so for three years. It was then that first of five children began to arrive and graduation lost out to two baby boys (Jed & Don) and a full time job working for a doctor while Joe finished his Veterinarian studies. Prior to graduation Joe was offered a State/Co-op Veterinarian position in Wisconsin. CSU graduated Joe in absentia and Helen and Joe continued their journey down life's pathway. Shortly after they migrated to Kanawha, Iowa, and Joe joined a large co-op there. The family grew by two more (Mary & Tom) and Helen managed the business, the books, and four kinder.

For health reasons Helen needed a dryer climate and Garden City, Kan., became home to a family of seven as Sarah joined the Dale clan. Besides managing a large and small animal practice, helping in the office with surgery until the kids were old enough, and cooking, washing, drying, and caring for seven, Helen was also busy. Every Sunday without fail there was Church and Helen was a WCTU leader; she was very active with her bible study group; read prodigiously; and served on the school board for 13 years. Home was two acres, a half acre dedicated to produce and in the spring there were summer beets and vegetables preserved in Ball jars along with home-made dill pickles, and crabapple and rhubarb for her famous pies. For a hobby she took up painting and many Finney County elevators were recorded on canvas for posterity. Helen and Joe retired on a home built on the Cache la Poudre in the Rockies until Joe's illness forced them into Fort Collins. Missing from Helen's chronology are the family moments when trips were taken and we visited as a family; especially when the family went fishing together. Those were the best of times. There was joy, happiness, and pleasure in each other's company. The stories from one fishing trip could last through an entire year.

Helen, as Mother, always had an encouraging word. When down and discouraged she could shine a fresh light and help us see that there was a future. Helen's sons and sons-in-law all served in the military and some grandchildren now serve in harm's way. Her faith never wavered and remained strong to the end even as she lay dying. Perchance there's some special measure of an individual, some indication that one has mastered the art of dying. That said there is a confirmation and it lies in the affection, love, and kindness Helen shared and most of all in her steadfast faith.

To paraphrase a thought from the essayist Joseph Epstein, It would be fitting to say that........ 'One of death's drawbacks is that it wipes out so much fishing.'

September 28, 2008
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/OBITUARIES/809280334