Eleonore A. Helm

Funeral services for Eleonore A. Helm, 75, of Okoboji and formerly of Cincinnati were held at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, at Good News Community Church in Okoboji. Eleonore passed away Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.

Interment was held at Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Cincinnati.

Eleonore Adele Helm was born March 11, 1934, in Düsseldorf, Germany, the daughter of Wilhelm and Eleonore (Echtermann) Köhnen.

Eleonore met her husband, Henry Helm Jr. in a café in Germany. They were married on Dec. 19, 1959. They lived in Cologne, Germany, and eventually moved to Cincinnati, where they lived for many years. Nore later moved to Okoboji.

Nore was the quintessential mother, who adored and lived for her children, and later her grandchildren. She was gifted in knitting, sewing, and painting. She loved to make and give away clothes, blankets, and pictures-- which always became cherished gifts to her family and friends. She taught Sunday school classes, where children loved her art projects. She loved birds, she loved flowers, and she was at home in her gardens.

She was known for her dedication to others, and well into her 70s enjoyed working in her daughter's restaurant, where she tried to outwork the 20- year-olds, and often did. The dishes will never be so clean, the kitchen never so well organized. She loved the friends she made at her Bible study class at Good News, and lived daily in the Lord.

She will be remembered for her kindness, and her everlasting graciousness.

She is survived by her father, Wilhelm Köhnen of Germany, and her two brothers Willie and Dieter, both of Germany; her children, Andrew Helm of Cincinnati, Ohio; Daniel Helm, his wife, Aileen, and their sons, Sean and Ian, of McLean, Va.; and Jennifer Rettig, her husband David, and their children Bogdan and Katya, of Spirit Lake.

She was preceded in death by her husband, her mother, and four sisters, Helga, Margot, Ulla, and Uta, all of Germany.