Helen Anderson Knievel 1923-2011

KNIEVEL, ANDERSON, TOLLEFSON, GILLESPIE

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 7/3/2025 at 17:18:48

Helen Jean Knievel, the daughter of Adam William and Lillie Tollefson Anderson was born November 28, 1923, in Cherokee, Iowa. The family lived on farms in Cherokee and O'Brien County, Iowa. Helen graduated from Paullina High School in 1941. She attended Northwestern College in Orange City, before doing electrical wiring on bomber planes in Kansas City, Kansas, from 1942 to 1944.

During those years, she was a part=time student at the University of Missouri/Kansas City. In the fall of 1944, she became a full-time student at the University of Minnesota where she met William Knievel of Austin, Minnesota. Mr. Knievel had served in the U.S. Army, 1942-1945, in the African and Italian theaters during World War II. They married in March 1946.

Helen returned to college to earn a Bachelor's degree in library science from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and a Master's degree from the University of Missouri. She served in the libraries in Cedar Falls, Indianapolis, Indiana, Northwester Iowa Regional Library and Yankton, South Dakota.

She enjoyed her family, politics, reading and travel, including a home exchange with a New Zealand family during 1990. Other trips she took to Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, Spain, Greece, China, Egypt, Australia, and Pacific Islands.

Left to cherish he memory are: six children-Mike Knievel, Cocoa, FL; Eric Knievel, Spokane, WA; Chris Knievel, Red Wing, MN; Dr. Jace Knievel, Tacoma, WA; Rebecca Knievel, Kelseyville, CA; Kurt Knievel, Albuquerque, NM; and her brothers Rodney, Paullina, IA and Windsor Anderson, Rockville, MD, and her sister, Barbara Gillespie, Alcester, SD and grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.

A Memorial service was held at Paullina Community Center on Saturday, March 26, 2011. Helen Knievel was buried next to her husband at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery in MPLS/St. Paul, Minnesota

From Paullina Times April 21, 2011