Obituary of Helen Daisy Gause

Helen D. Gause Memorial services for Helen D. Gause will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 26, 2010, at the Pence ~ Reese Funeral Home in Newton. Friends may call at the funeral home one hour prior to the services, with the family present. Memorials designated in Helen's name to the Jasper County Historical Society, and may be left at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Woodland Cemetery in Lynnville, Iowa. Helen McConeghey, 100, was born on April 26, 1910 to William A. and Lottie Ann Foglesong McConeghey. She was the 6th child in a family of nine children for William and Lottie. In order of birth they were Keith, Cecile, Mabel, Carl, Ruth, Helen, Paul, Eva and Dale. Helen and Eva are the only members of the family still living. Her father, William, was 99 when he passed away and many of Helen's brothers and sisters lived well into their 90's but she is the only family member to attain the age of 100. Helen attended country school and then went to high school in Monroe, graduating in 1928. She talked about the snow and cold weather when attending school and how she hated being cold. She and Ruth took the buggy back and forth in high school using blankets and heated bricks for their feet to stay warm. Helen always said that Ruth never got as cold as she did. After Ruth graduated, Helen's brother Paul took over driving the buggy and Helen said he scared her to death with his wild approach to it. Helen was always very thin when she was young as she had some illnesses during her youth. Guess fighting off those viruses made her strong. Helen has always enjoyed singing and she started in her youth singing many solos at her family's church. After high school she attended William Penn College to earn her teaching certificate and taught in a country school. While teaching, she sometimes stayed with her sister Mabel. Helen met and married Lester H. Gause Jr. in 1930 at the age of 20. She and Lester Jr. had 4 children, Nancy, Jeanne, Charles and Lester III. Tragically Lester was killed in a farming accident in Oct of 1938 when they both were only 28 years of age. Helen was provided much help by her family as well as Lester's. It was not easy during this depression era to be a widow left alone with 4 young children, the oldest being 7. These were very difficult years for Helen. In October of 1940 Helen married Lory W. Gause, a younger brother of Lester's. Lory adopted Nancy, Jeanne, Charles and Lester. They added to their family with the births of Bryce, Russell and Joan. This brought the family to a total of 7 children. Lory and Helen had both wanted a large family and worked at making their family a close knit group as both of their own families had been. Even though their children are spread across the U.S. today they still remain close and get together on a regular basis to enjoy each other's company. Helen has always remained close to her own brothers and sisters as well. Helen fed her family from her garden. During the warm months they had fresh vegetables from the garden including rhubarb and strawberries, and fruit from their trees. In the fall she would can tons of tomatoes, beans, corn etc. as well as make jams and jellys for use during the winter. She also raised onions and potatoes to feed an army (or with 4 growing boys must have felt like an army). All of these were stored in their cave for use during the winter. In addition, Helen loved flowers and she had a green thumb for those as well as her garden. However, with baseball, football, green light races, anti-anti over the house, her flowers sometimes received pretty rough treatment. All of her children and grandchildren at one time or another were asked "who broke off my geranium?". Helen, from when she was little, always loved to be outside which is why she liked working in her garden and flowers so much. Can you imagine how many loads of laundry she did over the past 100 years using a wringer washer or washtub when her children were young let alone all the ironing? Just think she had to carry the water from an outdoor pump and always heat it on the stove even before she could start the actual washing. In addition, she was an excellent seamstress and made clothes for herself and her family. Downsizing, lengthening, darning and re-tailoring as needed as everyone grew and changed. Helen was always the last to bed at night and the first to rise in the morning. In addition to all the day to day activities in raising a family, Helen and Lory liked to travel. Their first trip was made to visit Lory's parents in Windsor, Colorado in July of 1947. Nancy, the oldest would have been 16 and Joan, the youngest would have been not quite 2. How did they fit everyone in the car and how did Helen pack for that many people? Entertaining that many children while traveling across Nebraska and eastern Colorado must have been a chore, probably lots of singing led by Helen. This is the first and only trip where all the children went. For many years after this they made the yearly trip to Colorado to visit Lory's family with fewer children each time as the children grew up. Not only did Helen raise her children but she was also very active in raising her grandchildren. She kept most of them for periods of time to help out their parents whether they stayed in Lynnville or she stayed with them at their homes. She loved her children and really enjoyed all her grandchildren. She participated in all their activities if possible. I am sure that each grandchild can say that their Grandma Helen attended at least one of their activities, whether sports, dance recitals, music events, plays etc. and was always there to listen and encourage. Helen also was an excellent cook and she was an expert at putting together a meal for unexpected company out of her refrigerator or freezer. She baked pies, brownies, homemade bread/rolls and always had cookies in her freezer. She knew which cookies were the favorites for each of her grandchildren and always had plenty in the freezer ready for them when they came to visit. In the late 1950s, Helen joined the workforce working outside the home. She became the receptionist in the doctor's office in Lynnville. She taught herself to type so she could schedule appointments, fill out insurance forms, and send out statements. She always liked to be busy. Also in the mid 60's she took private driving lessons in Newton with the intention of getting her driver's license so she didn't have to depend upon others to drive her places. However, as sometimes happens, it seems that there was a misunderstanding between her and Lory on her taking the driving test so she never did actually take the final driving test and get her license. Helen and Lory did lots of traveling after Lory retired in 1981 visiting family and sightseeing across the U.S. They never took any trips overseas as they wanted to visit all the continental U.S. states first. They made it to all except Hawaii and Alaska. For several years they were Florida snowbirds and enjoyed spending winters where it was warm and they didn't have to shovel snow. Helen enjoyed the flowers while there and they both began to show a little leg wearing shorts and tennis shoes. Lory passed away in 1992 and Helen continued to reside in Lynnville for a couple of years planting her garden which had more flowers then vegetables but eventually decided to move to Park Centre in Newton where she made many new friends and continued to be active. Helen has done a lot in her 100 years. She has been a tremendous influence on all of her family and others that have known her. From her youth she has carried on the values and hard working principles of her parents. Family has always been so important to her. She always has looked on the positive side of things, expected a great deal of herself as well as her children and always tried to do the right thing. She has had some wonderful times in her 100 years and also some really sad/hard times but they have made her the person she is today. I am sure when she was a young girl she never dreamed that she would be celebrating her 100th birthday and be the first person in her family to have that distinction.