HELEN LAVINA MCMORRIS

    Helen Lavina McMorris, age 99, was born September 4, 1916, at Leon, Iowa to Ray Ira and Hazel Bea (Hatfield) McBee. She died at the Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston, Iowa on Friday, July 22, 2016.
    Helen grew up and attended various country schools in Decatur and Clarke counties in Iowa. She graduated from Leon High School in 1934. She then received her normal training certificate and taught country school in Decatur County.
    On June 11, 1936, she eloped and married Raymond Frederick McMorris in Omaha, Nebraska. They were blessed with two daughters, Monica and Martha. The couple farmed in Decatur County and retired to Kellerton, Iowa in 1970. Helen started working at O’Bryan Brothers in Leon, first as a seamstress then a supervising inspector. On December 6, 1976, Raymond died.
    In her free time, Helen enjoyed crocheting baby blankets for Decatur County Hospital newborns and lap blankets for two nursing homes in Mount Ayr, Iowa. She also was an avid reader, a faithful member of the Kellerton United Methodist Church and was active in the UMW there. She enjoyed traveling to all but two of the United States and visiting the Holy Land, which was a highlight. She also visited her daughters and their families.
    Preceding her in death were her parents; brother, Charles McBee and Marjorie; sister, Viola McMorris and John; and sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Elizabeth Redman and Maurice, Georgia McMorris, Paul McMorris, Donald McMorris and June, Richard McMorris, John Sprenger, Carl Rittenbach, and Boyd Evans.
    Survivors include her daughters, Monica Zavada and husband Bernard of Libertyville, Illinois and Martha Noonan and husband Paul of Eugene, Oregon; two grandsons, David Noonan and wife Tammy and Stephen Noonan and wife Heather, all of Eugene; four great grandchildren, Joshua, Ian, Keegan, and Reilley; sister, Joan Evans of Fairview, Illinois; brother, Jim McBee and wife Betty of Paoli, Colorado; sisters-in-law, Dorothy Rittenbach, Tippy McMorris, and Helen McMorris Gjovig; nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.
    Funeral services were held at the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon, Iowa at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 25, 2016, with Pastor Rick Hawkins officiating. Burial was in the Leon Cemetery, Leon, Iowa.
    Memorials may be directed to the Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston, Iowa.