Helen's Obituary

Helen's Obituary

Helen and her husband Lynn were friends of ours and we took square dance lessons with them in the early 60's traveling to Perry and Grand Junction for them. Helen's twin sisters, Joyce and Joy, babysat for us. Helen and Lynn were a whole lot of fun. Helen's obituary was particularly interesting to me and I thought my readers might think so too.

Obituary for Helen Louise Finley

On Dec. 10, 1942, Helen Louise Orfield was born in Allerton, Iowa, at the home of her father’s mother Annie Orfield, on her Aunt Helen’s birthday. She was named after her aunt. 

Helen was the fourth child of Edna May and Floyd Oscar Orfield. They would go on to have a total of 15 children: Alta, Annie, Arlene, Helen, Elaine, June, Joyce, Joy, Flo, Dwayne, Jerry, Darwin, Mark, Debbie, and Oscar. 

Helen is survived by 12 of her siblings, with Elaine and Darwin predeceasing her. 

With so many children, Helen’s mother Edna May had to have help and Helen fondly remembered Arlene being a second mom to her. 

The siblings continue to have a reunion on the same weekend every year in Iowa, which Helen loved attending. 

Helen’s father Floyd was employed by Paul Mears who owned farms on which the Orfield family lived and worked. Helen remembered her chores including laundry, cooking, canning, cutting weeds out of the bean and corn crops, milking cows, feeding the cows, and pigs. She was a hardworking kid!

Helen remembered when many, if not all of the Orfield children, had chickenpox and measles at the same time. Her mother’s mother came by train and stayed a long time to help care for the children. 

They made a bed for Helen in the kitchen with a curtain around it and she remembers the treat of being given warm milk at bedtime and receiving extra attention from her mother, which made it a special time for her. 

She also recalled that the family had one of the first TVs in the neighborhood and many neighbors would come over to watch “Friday night fights.” 

The winters in Iowa can be harsh and Helen remembered a snow so deep that the family had to leave the house from the second floor to feed the animals. Also during, winter when the river froze, Floyd would use a chainsaw to make holes in the ice and sharpen spears for the kids. They would stomp on the ice and spear the fish that swam under the open holes.

Helen’s favorite time of the year was the 4th of July. Her father would go to Missouri to buy plenty of fireworks and her mom would make taffy and the Orfield kids would spend the evening pulling taffy with the neighbor kids.

Helen attended school in Bagley, Cooper, and Jefferson. She remembers the one-room country school having a potbelly stove on which the class cooked their dinners. Helen played basketball for two years and was a cheerleader. For one of those years, her sister Arlene played on the same team. 

It was when she was in 8th grade at Bagley that Helen asked Lynn Finley to take her to the prom. Lynn had to first get the okay from her dad Floyd, who agreed to the date. Lynn took her to his junior and senior prom driving his 1949 Ford. “We had a blast,” she recalled.

 

Lynn and Helen liked to roller skate, but they didn’t just skate, they danced as a couple on skates. It was a beautiful and romantic sight to behold. 

Helen had two jobs during high school. She was an A&W carhop and she sold tickets and concessions at the movie theater. 

Two of Helen’s favorite movies were “Bambi” and Elvis Presley’s “GI Blues.”

 

She graduated from Jefferson High School in1961. 

Not long after her high school graduation, Helen was married to Lynn Milo Finley at the Central Christian Church in Jefferson on June 18, 1961. They spent the first year of marriage living in Oceanside, Cal., where Lynn was in the Navy,  stationed with the Marines as a hospital corpsman at Camp Pendleton. In May of 1962, their son Richard was born. The family of three returned to Iowa,

where in 1964 their second child Glenda was born. 

In 1966, the family of four moved to Wichita for the job opportunities at Cessna and Boeing. Helen was a sheet metal assembler and an inspector at Cessna Aircraft. In 1973 their third child Boyd was born and they were a completed family of five.

 

Helen and Lynn belonged to the Eastern Star and Shrine. They enjoyed the CSA gatherings, the dances, camping with that group, taking part in parades, and clowning. Not clowning around, they were actually clowns!

Around 2002 Lynn and Helen retired from Cessna Aircraft with Lynn having worked there for 37 years as a mechanic and a manager and Helen, for 33 years. 

After Lynn died in October 2017, Helen expressed a desire to be with him. 

Following a fall and declining health, Helen moved to Golden Boomer’s, an assisted living home, where she spent the last year of her life. The Finley children are comforted knowing that their mom and dad are once again together and “Dancing in Heaven.’

Helen was preceded in death by her parents; sister Elaine, brother Darwin; granddaughter Zerena and great-granddaughter Kallie. Helen is survived by her son Richard (LaVeda) Finley; daughter Glenda (Tim) Atwell and son Boyd (Amy) Finley.  Also her sister sister-in-law Verlee (Ronald) Mathis; grandchildren David, Christopher (Shanna), Michelle, Zach, Zavry (Kelsey), and Zara; and her great-grandchildren Alexis, Logan, and Madison.