Helen Marie Jahnke

JAHNKE, DITON, KOLLER, CAMPBELL, COLWELL

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 11/21/2023 at 08:48:37

Helen Marie Jahnke, 97, died Monday, October 9 at the Solon Care Center in Solon, IA.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, October 14 at 3 p.m. at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City where visitation will be held prior to the service from 1-3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed toward Our Redeemer Lutheran Church or the Solon Retirement Village Foundation. The service will be live streamed with the link available on the church’s website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2phdZVzsEY

Helen was born on September 5, 1926 in Keokuk, Iowa, the daughter of Armand and Lillian Koller Diton. She spent her childhood in Fort Madison, IA, graduating from Fort Madison High School in 1944.

She attended the University of Iowa where she received her RN in 1947. She worked at University of Iowa Hospital from 1947 until 1949. She returned to UIHC after the birth of her children, working there from 1956-1967. In 1968, Helen began working at Greenwood Manor (later Briarwood), for 15 years before retiring in 1993.

She married William (Bill) Jahnke on January 7, 1949 in Fort Madison. They lived in Iowa City where they raised their six children. William died in 2016.

Helen was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, where she taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for many years. She was an adult leader for Walther League and was active in the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League for many years. Helen became known as the “Plant Lady” as she tended to the plants at the church. She and Bill were also part of the Friday Folders group that assembled church bulletins on Fridays. They also delivered the bulletins to shut-ins.

Helen was also involved in the International Student Ministry at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, ministering to the wives of graduate students.

Survivors include her six children: David and his wife Virginia of O’Fallon, MO, Barbara and her husband Stephen Campbell of Downey, IA, William Jr. and his wife Jane of Urbandale, IA, Paul of Cedar Rapids, IA, Elizabeth Ann and her husband Daniel Colwell of Bellevue, NE and James Allen and his wife Anne of Cedar Rapids, IA; twelve grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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