Helena Alberts | ||
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| Sylvia Helena Alberts, first of four children of Charles Frederick Kunze and Edna Belle Brackett Kunze, was born October 8, 1921 in Cozahome, Arkansas. She grew up playing in the hills near Dover, Arkansas. The family had little, but she fondly remembered running barefoot through the Ozark hills and mountains. She was baptized as a child in the Piney River by a traveling evangelist. She graduated valedictorian from Dover High School in 1939 after only 3 years of high school. (One year she had no shoes and the bus did not go by.) She taught grades K-8 in a small country school near Shinn Mountain in Pope County, Arkansas. She then moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa to keep house for relatives, Maury and Hazel Bennett. It was while she lived there that she met a young man from Malvern on a blind date. She and Maurice Edward Alberts were married February 22, 1942 in the Baptist Church in Rockport, Missouri shortly before Maurice left to join the Army Air Corps where he served in the Pacific during World War II. Helena worked at the bomber plant in Bellevue, Nebraska and later moved to San Antonio, Texas to be near Maurice during his training. She worked as a valued employee at the Fox Photo Co. while there and made a home for Maurice when he had leave from duty. When he was sent overseas, Helena moved to San Francisco, California to live with family. She worked as a bookkeeper at the W. P. Fuller Paint Company. She and Maurice returned to Iowa in 1945 where they set up housekeeping in a little home near Malvern. Their first son, Edward Eugene, was born February 17, 1947. In January of 1950, they moved to the Rodman farm southwest of Malvern where they lived when their second son, Randall Lee, was born on September 26, 1955. Helena was an active farm wife, helping with all aspects of running the farm, as well as growing a large garden and preserving food. She was a wonderful cook and many a farmer around the Malvern area who shared their table during haying or harvesting times could attest to that. Everything she made was done to perfection and she knew that she was providing well for her family. She was especially well known for baking pies. Her sour cream raisin pie was a special treat, but it was her chocolate meringue pie that her granddaughters and family asked for whenever they visited. Every Alberts birthday was celebrated with an angel food cake swirled with mounds of white mountain frosting. She was very happy to have been able to bake and decorate special first birthday cakes for each of her great-grandchildren, as she had done for her granddaughters. She had an extraordinary green thumb and raised the most beautiful plants and flowers.
She and Maurice retired from farming in 1988 and moved to Tabor where they loved working together to raise a large vegetable and flower garden. They enjoyed sharing the fruits of their hands with neighbors and family. Helena began making quilts during the winter lull and made a beautiful quilt for every member of her family. She also enjoyed playing bridge with her many friends in Malvern and Tabor. Helena and Maurice had been married for 60 years when Maurice passed away on April 11, 2002. Helena continued to live in Tabor until the spring of 2005 when she moved to Columbia, Missouri to be near family and enjoy her two great-granddaughters, Hannah and Meghan. Helena was a faithful member of the Malvern United Methodist Church. She was also a longtime member of the Hyland Sewing Circle (HSC Club) and the Mary Ruth Circle of the Malvern United Methodist Church and several card and bridge clubs around the area. Helena died November 20, 2006 at Boone Hospital Center in Columbia with all of her family near. She was preceded in death by her husband, Maurice, her parents and one brother, Morrell Lee Kunze, and two sisters, Retha Maudie and Freddie Maxine. She is survived by her sons, Gene Alberts, and his wife, Susie, from Columbia and Randy Alberts of La Place, Louisiana; two granddaughters, Kristin Alberts, and her husband Jay Brown of Jacksonville, Florida; and Kelli Thomas and her husband Tim of Columbia, Missouri. She especially enjoyed her time with her three great-grandchildren, Hannah and Meghan Thomas and Benjamin Brown. She is also survived by her aunt, Edith Clark and sister-in-law Dorothy Alberts both of Glenwood, Iowa, and many nieces, nephews, and friends. She loved God and her family most and will be greatly missed by all who were touched by her gentle ways. | ||