Helen Margaret (Hauser) POWERS

POWERS, HAUSER, RURING, THOMAS, GRIFFITH, NORDMAN, LARSEN, WULZE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/11/2012 at 11:53:15

October 20, 1914 ---- January 14, 2012

Helen Powers, 97, of Carroll, formerly of Des Moines, died Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, at St. Anthony Nursing Home in Carroll. Services will be at noon Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Merle Hay Funeral Home, 4400 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines. Visitation will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home and entombment will follow services in the Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be left to the charity of your choice.

Helen Margaret Hauser was born Oct. 20, 1914, in Gowrie and lived with her parents in Boone until the death of her mother in 1923. She and her brother, Graydon, then made their home with her aunt and uncle, Fern (Hauser) and Ernest Ruring in Gowrie. She graduated from Gowrie High School in 1932 and from Drake University in 1934. She taught seventh and eighth grades in Spring Hill and Corwith until her marriage to Paul Powers on June 12, 1937, in Washington, D.C. They made their home in Des Moines where Helen was a homemaker and involved in many organizations. She was active in three Parent Teacher Associations at one time when her children attended different schools. Helen taught Sunday school at University Christian Church for 30 years and was a volunteer with YWCA of Des Moines. Later she volunteered in the Des Moines Public Schools as a tutor and in the Quilt House at Living History Farms. She also belonged to a Questors Group and was still being active in her church.

Helen enjoyed family and friends. She especially enjoyed the close friendships she made in her sewing club and the Pinochle Club that she and Paul shared. She loved attending civic music performances and band concerts on Capitol Hill Lawn. She lived at the Lodge of Ashworth and when her health began to decline, she moved to Swan House and then to St. Anthony Nursing Home in Carroll. Helen was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, and actively contributed to her community.

She is survived by her children, Leesanne Thomas of Thor; Thomas of Lake Ozark, Mo.; Phillip of Mack, Colo.; and Peggy Griffith of Carroll; 10 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and nine nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul; her parents, Glenn and Clara (Nordman) Hauser; brother, Graydon Hauser; sisters, Ruth Hauser Larsen and Lois Hauser Wulze; and foster parents, Fern and Ernest Ruring.

Daily Times Herald - Carroll, Iowa
January 17, 2012

[Former teacher in Corwith, Iowa]