Helen Mae Dannels
Helen Mae Dannels
Helen Mae Dannels
May 18, 1928 – October 3, 2014
Rose Hill, Iowa | Age 86
Loving Daughter, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Sister, and Friend
Helen Dannels, 86, of Rose Hill passed away Friday Morning, October 3, 2014, at Mahaska Health Partnership Hospice Services Serenity House in Oskaloosa. Helen Mae Dannels, daughter of Jacob “Jake” and Christine Jansen Moll, was born May 18, 1928 in Pella, Iowa.
Helen was a 1946 graduate of Knoxville High School and following her education worked for the Bellemy Telephone Company. February 25, 1949, Helen married Robert Eugene Dannels in Albia, Iowa.
Early in their marriage, when Bob was in the Navy, Helen traveled many times between Iowa and California. While in Iowa she worked at Rolscreen (Pella Corp.) and while in California she worked in a fish canning factory. Upon returning to Iowa, Helen and Bob eventually purchased a farm on the west edge of Rose Hill. Helen was a true partner with Bob on the farm, she operated all the machinery and helped with the livestock and in the field, in addition to her responsibilities of homemaker and mother. She planted a large garden, canning and freezing the bounty it gave her.
Helen loved life on the farm and taught her children to enjoy the work and to love that life as well. Because she was a child of the depression, Helen was thrifty and efficient.
Helen enjoyed hosting and going to garage sales, she was a recycler before it was popular. Helen was a member of the Rose Hill Community Church and the Rose Hill Ruritan Club.
Her family includes her children: Lisa Kinkade of Oskaloosa; Rodney Dannels of Rose Hill and Rob (& Sally) Dannels of Rose Hill; six grandchildren: Jeremy (& Carey) Dannels, Josh (& Ayla Bucklin) Dannels, Jake (& Andrea) Dannels, Ashley Kinkade, Cody Randell and Mikayla McQueen; 12 great grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Betty Moll of Knoxville.
In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Robert; and a brother, Clarence Moll.
Funeral services for Helen will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 7, at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa with Rev. Del Bittner of the Rose Hill Community Church officiating.
Burial will be in Forest Cemetery.
Visitation will begin at 11 a.m., Monday, at the funeral chapel; the family will be present from 5-7 p.m. to greet visitors.
Memorials may be made to the MHP Hospice Services Serenity House or to Rose Hill Community Church.
