LuVerne L. Helland

LuVerne Helland, 84, of Sioux City, formerly of Crystal Lake, passed away on Monday, February 23, 2009 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City.

A memorial service for LuVerne Helland will be held at 2:30 PM on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at the United Methodist Church in Crystal Lake with Pastor Jerald Swanberg officiating. Burial will take place at Crystal Lake Cemetery in Crystal Lake.

Visitation for LuVerne Helland will be held one hour prior to the services at the church.

LuVerne was born on a farm outside of Crystal Lake, Iowa on February 1, 1925 to Levi and Clara (Jacobson) Helland. He joined a six year old sister, Ceola. His father passed away during the depression when he was nine years old. Times were tough for his mother so LuVerne started selling the “Saturday Evening Post” on the street corner in Forest City and Ceola helped out by teaching piano lessons. In 1936, his mother married Hans Mortenson and they moved to the family farm 1 ½ miles south and west of Crystal Lake.

In May 1942, he graduated from high school and the United States had been at war since December 1941. At this time, he was seventeen but wanted to enlist in the Navy so he talked his mother into signing for him. He was stationed for boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. After boot camp, he chose to be trained in electrical school and was later assigned to Gyro Compass school in San Diego. In Portland, Oregon, he was part of the commissioning ceremony of a new aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Tulagi. His carrier was involved in the invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944. On January 4, 1945, the ship had its first major attack in the Lingayen Gulf, Philippines with a Japanese suicide bomber missing the carrier by ten feet. He attained the rank of E.M. 1/c.

On March 6, 1946 after the war ended, he received his discharge from the Navy. At this time, he returned to the farm and started farming with is stepfather. His stepfather died in 1954. He continued to farm and moved his mother to a house on the farm to take care of her. He married Katherine Henken in 1955 at the Little Brown Church in the Cale and they made their home on the farm. They had three girls born within three years; Sharon, Marna, and Leslie. They not only farmed but had a dairy farm with about 23 milk cows, all of them named.

From time to time, he raised hogs and always kept sheep to keep the groves clean. The barn was full of cats, all of them with names and also a family dog.

In the early seventies, his emphysema made it harder to continue farming, and he and Katherine started delivering motorhomes all over the country for Winnebago Industries. They say many areas of the country and fell in love with the warm climate of Phoenix, Arizona.

They retired and moved to Phoenix in 1983, the year after they finished putting all three daughter through college. They made many lifelong friends there while golfing, playing cards, and soaking up the sun at the pool. They continued to travel, his love of which was developed with his Navy experience and motor home driving.

In 2006, they moved back to Iowa to be closer to the farm and relatives from Crystal Lake and daughter Sharon. He wanted to see the windmills constructed on the farm and saw them for the last time in October.

He enjoyed having his grandchildren Michael, Lauren, and Mark visit and they enjoyed watching basketball and baseball games on television with him.

He was a member of American Legion in Crystal Lake, Iowa; the V.F.W. in Sun Lakes, Arizona; the Crystal Lake United Methodist Church; and the Sun Lakes United Methodist Church. He served on the Woden-Crystal Lake School Board and the Crystal Lake Creamery Board.

He was a lifelong reader and had read most books about World War II naval battles. He loved to watch the Phoenix Suns basketball and the news on CNN, he could visit in depth about many subjects. He was most of all a gentleman.

Survivors include his wife Katherine of Sioux City; daughters Sharon (Keith) Bloom of South Sioux City, Nebraska; Marna Helland of Dallas, Texas; and Leslie (Jim) Marshall of Brawley, California; and three grandchildren, Michael and Mark Davis, and Lauren Marshall.

He was preceded in death by his parents; sister and brother-in-law, Ceola and Kenneth Hefte; and a son in infancy.