Helen Goecke

Helen I. Goecke, 99, of Glenwood Place in Marshalltown, passed away on the morning of Monday, January 4th, 2016, in the comfort of her home with her family at her side. Funeral services will be on Monday January 11, 2016 at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home at 10:30a.m. A visitation will be held on January 10, 2016 from 5 7:00p.m. at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home. The Mitchell Family Funeral Home is caring for Helen and her family, for further questions please contact www.mitchellfh.com or call (641)-844-1234 Born on August 16th, 1916, at Van Cleave, Iowa, she was the daughter and one of six children born to Louis and Ethel (Turnbull) Tigges. She graduated from the Van Cleave High School as class Valedictorian in 1933. After her graduation, she drove the hired mans Model T to Marshalltown to attend the Central Iowa Business College. Following graduation she began working for Cooper Manufacturing. On Christmas Day of 1935, she began her day as Helen Tigges and that night at 10:00 p.m. (after waiting because of the blizzard) was married to Earl Goecke at the Marshalltown home of Rev. A.O. Bishop Pastor of the Minerva Wesley Chapel. Their honeymoon consisted of dinner after the ceremony and night at the Tallcorn in Marshalltown. The young couple being of strong work ethics woke up the next morning and went to work! For the next 72 years, they made their home northeast of State Center on the farm until moving to Glenwood Place in 2008. Helen was a faithful farmwife, mom and businesswoman who assisted her husband in running the family farm and business, Jay-Kee Trailer Manufacturing. She was also employed at Hermans Clothing in Marshalltown, and Denniston-Partridge Lumber in State Center. She was a faithful member of the Minerva Wesley Chapel and the Ladies Aid of the church as well as serving its offices. Helen was a very active 4-H member in her youth and a 4-H leader for many years which took her to helping with events at the Marshall County Fair. She was an avid seamstress who was very particular, could make her own patterns and was excellent at tailoring. Helen along with her husband Earl were highly involved in the organization and working at Mid Iowa Antique Power Association events. Helen was longtime member of the State Center Margaret Stoddard Study Club. Most important was her family and time with them. Left to cherish her nearly century of life are her children: Ron (Mary) Goecke of rural State Center and Karen (Alan) Hilleman 0f Marshalltown; five grandchildren- Deanna (Randy) Dickinson of Perrysburg, Ohio; Valerie (Andre) Authier of Kansas City; Chad (Kara) Goecke of Marshalltown; Kirk (Angela) Hilleman of State Center and Kristine (Scott) Clarke of West Des Moines; 11 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson who blessed her on December 22, 2015, brother Jim (Betty) Tigges of Ames, two sisters-in-law- Mary Goecke and Beth Tigges both of Glenwood Place as well as numerous nieces, nephews, her Glenwood Family and friends. In death, she rejoined her beloved Earl who passed in 2010, son Steven (1961), daughter Ellen (1988), her parents, great-granddaughter Promise Joy Authier; sisters- Eleanor Crabtree, Margaret Nusbaum, Effie Balvin, and brother John Tigges.