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Helene attended St Benedict's Academy at St Joseph, MN, St. Catherine's College in St Paul, and State Teachers College at Bemidji. She had been a successful teacher for several years before her marriage. Helen and her husband and Geraldine moved from Detroit to California October 14, 1973. Helen B. Felling, 92, of Woodacre, Calif., died Monday, Sept. 8, 1997, in Kaiser Hospital, San Rafael, Calif.
Funeral services were held Sept. 13 in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Padua, with the Rev. James Statz officiating. Interment followed in the parish cemetery. Helen Felling was born on Sept. 1, 1904, to Michael and Margaret (Mruphy) Rooney on a farm near Padua. She attended the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, St. Catherine's College, St. Paul, and teacher's college in Glenwood. She taught in rural one-room school houses until her marriage to Edwin Felling in 1936. After their marriage, they moved to Detroit, Mich., where she was active in church activities in St. Dominic's parish. During World War II she took a job to help with the war effort. Later she worked for the post office and in the 1960's, she helped spearhead President Johnson's war on poverty. She worked for the Poverty Program in Detroit as a senior counselor until she retired at age 70. In 1974, Helen and her husband moved to Woodacre, Calif. Edwin died May 18, 1976. Helen continued to live in California, but spent most of her summers in Padua. She lived in Woodacre until age 91 and has since lived with her daughter Geraldine and son-in-law Joseph Walsh in Lagunitas, Calif. She was a member of St. Cecilia's Parish in Lagunitas. Survivors include: eight children, Edwin and wife Ann, and Michael, all of Marathon, Fla., Bernard and wife Barbara, Jerry, Geraldine Walsh and husband Joseph, all of Lagunitas, Mary Bommarito of Grosse Pointe, Mich., Daniel and wife Suzette of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and John and wife Christi of Woodacre, C alif: 18 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Mary Majerus; and brothers, Francis and Ambrose Rooney. Pallbearers were Edwin, Michael, Bernard, Daniel, David and Jerry Felling; Joe Walsh and Richard Rooney. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Padua. Arrangements were made with Patton-Schad Funeral Service, Sauk Centre. |