Helen Marie (Vierkant) PARKS

PARKS, VIERKANT, MEACHAM, LUDVIGSON, DARG, KOHLER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/17/2012 at 14:47:03

January 25, 1925 --- August 15, 2010

ROCKWELL - Helen M. Parks, 85, of Rockwell, died Sunday (Aug. 15, 2010) at Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City, after suffering apparent strokes. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. today at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 502 Second St. S., Rockwell, with Pastor Joel Dahlen officiating. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery in Mason City. Visitation was held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, and continue one hour prior to the church service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Helen Parks Memorial Fund or the American Cancer Society , 130 Fourth St. S.W., Mason City, IA 50401.

Helen Marie Vierkant was born on Jan. 25, 1925, in Webster, Wis., the daughter of Harry and Hazel (Meacham) Vierkant. She was raised on a farm near Rockwell and attended country school. She met Victor Parks, her future husband, when one's parents, invited the other's family to dinner. They were married on Nov. 8, 1942, and except for the past year at Good Shepherd Health Center, they had resided on the Parks family farm near Rockwell. Helen loved farm life, rummage sales and was a wonderful cook. She also loved dancing with her husband Victor at the Surf Ballroom and the Moose Lodge. She had a quick smile and a great sense of humor. In her mid-teens, Helen worked as a housekeeper for Mrs. Major, above the Major Funeral Home. After her marriage to Victor, she was a farm wife, and after raising three children, she worked for many years at the State Liquor Store in Mason City. In the past year she would often jest about the fact that life had taken her from Major Funeral Home, to a block down the street at Good Shepherd, and would eventually take her back to Major Erickson Funeral Home.

Helen is survived by her husband of 68 years: Victor; her sons: David (Diane) Parks of Clear Lake and Jack Parks of Rockwell; one daughter: Donna (Casper) Ludvigson, of Edgewood; 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; two brothers: Harry Vierkant of Citrus Heights, Calif., and Elmer (Mary Jo) Vierkant of Descanso, Calif.; one sister: Hazel Darg, of Rockwell; one sister-in-law: Wilda Vierkant of Springfield, Mo.; and special friend/neighbor, Steve Sturges and family, of Rockwell. She was preceded in death by her parents; three brothers: Newton, Paul and Benjamin Vierkant; two sisters: Faye, in infancy, and Ruth Kohler; father and mother-in-law: C.C. and Othella Parks. Arrangements with Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
August 18, 2010