Helen Elizabeth (Watkins) BOYD

BOYD, WATKINS, BORGHART, BARKEMA

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/4/2007 at 08:57:36

THORNTON - Helen E. Boyd, 95, of Thornton, died Friday (November 30, 2007) at the Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake. Funeral services for Helen Boyd will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, at the Dugger Ewing Funeral Home, 111 Luick's Lane South in Belmond. The Pastor Mike Druhl will officiate. Burial will take place in Amsterdam cemetery near Goodell. Visitation for Helen Boyd will take place from 5 until 7 p.m. today, Monday, Dec. 3, at the Dugger Ewing Funeral Home and until service time on Tuesday.

Helen Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward and Matie Borghart Watkins, was born on Nov. 27, 1912, on a farm near Cedar Rapids. She lived on the farm and attended a one-room school through the eighth grade. Helen then attended junior high and high school in Cedar Rapids. Helen graduated from Grant High School in 1932. She then attended Coe College and graduated from Cedar Rapids Business College. She worked as a secretary in law offices in Cedar Rapids and Seattle, Wash. Helen was united in marriage to Merritt Boyd in Cedar Rapids on Aug. 10, 1945. They moved to the Rowan and Alexander where they farmed in Wright County for 30 years. The couple retired to Thornton. Helen and Merritt spent winters in Texas for 22 years. Helen enjoyed gardening and socializing with friends. She liked very much to go out to eat with her family and friends. Helen also treasured the time she had spent on the farm.

Helen is survived by a daughter, Betty (Elizabeth) Barkema and husband, Dennis of Goodell; twin sons, Jerry and wife, Suzanne of Macon, Ga. and Gary and wife, Donna of Worthington, Minn.; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Merritt in 2000; a sister and a brother. Dugger Ewing Funeral Home, Belmond.

Mason City Globe Gazette
12/2/2007