Martha Hulda (Helmich) JOHN

JOHN, HELMICH, KLUG, BRIGGS, MATTES, ROSENBERG, KRUEGER, JANSSEN, CLABAUGH

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/31/2014 at 21:52:44

October 12, 1918 --- May 23, 2014

FAIRMONT - A funeral service for Martha H. John, 95, of Yukon, Okla. (Oklahoma City, Okla.), formerly of Fairmont, Minn., will be 11 a.m. Friday, May 30, 2014, at Lakeview Funeral Home Chapel in Fairmont, with interment in Lake Belt Township Cemetery, rural Ceylon, Minn.

Martha passed away Friday, May 23, 2014, from complications during surgery for a perforated ulcer at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, Okla. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service Friday at Lakeview Funeral Home. Lakeview Funeral Home and Cremation Service of Fairmont is in charge of arrangements. Memorials are preferred to the American Cancer Society.

Martha Hulda (Helmich) John was born Oct. 12, 1918, in Lake Belt Township, Martin County, rural Ceylon, Minn., the daughter of Frederick August and Hulda Amelia (Klug) Helmich. She attended school in Dunnell and Ceylon, Minn., and later graduated from Renwick High School, Iowa. On Oct. 14, 1939, Martha was united in marriage to Martin Joseph Truncisses John. The couple resided in various locations including Algona, Iowa; Iowa Falls, Iowa; Bancroft, Iowa; Armstrong, Iowa; Ceylon, Minn.; Renwick, Iowa; Dodge Center, Minn.; Harmony, Minn.; Mankato, Minn.; and Rochester, Minn. Martha was a homemaker and farm wife while her children were young in Renwick, Iowa, and Harmony, Minn. The family later moved to North Mankato, Minn., where Martha worked for a time candling eggs, later on an assembly line at Johnson Fishing, and also worked at Shari Candies. In the mid-1960s, Martha moved to Oklahoma City, where she worked at a meat packing plant for a time, Kaiser Ice Cream Sales, AMC-Stocker, was a sewing machine operator in a factory and later worked at Stone's Grocery-Delicatessen at the deli and lunch counter as a waitress and cook. Martha retired from Stone's in 1984 and purchased a house where she lived until September 2013, at age 95, when she moved to Heritage Assisted Living. Martha loved caring for flowers and feeding the birds. At one time, Martha had 150 plants in her backyard. She brought all 150 plants into her home each fall for the winter. Another favorite pastime she enjoyed was family fishing trips.

Martha is survived by her three daughters, Janice Anna Briggs of Oklahoma City, Okla., Lola Francine Mattes (Gene Joseph) of Alvin, Texas, and Patricia Teresa John of Marriman, Neb.; one son, Russell Fred John of Omaha, Neb.; many grandchildren; great-grandchildren; cousins; nieces; nephews; special friends, Joyce Smith, Petra Burdine, and Hatti Talton, all of Oklahoma City, Okla. Martha was preceded in death by her parents, Fred August Helmich (1878-1950) and Hulda Amelia Klug Helmich (1884-1919); spouse, Martin Joseph Truncisses John (1916-2004); son, Roger Martin John (1942-2011); and siblings, Anna Helmich Rosenberg, Emma Helmich Krueger, Henry Hank Helmich, Carl Fred Otto Helmich, Bertha Helmich (Plath) Janssen, Mabel Helmich Clabaugh, and Harry D. Helmich.

May 29, 2014
Fairmont Sentinel - Fairmont, Minnesota