Helen Louise (Ankeny) Abts, 97, of Dixon, died Wednesday, June 1, 2022, at the Wakefield Assisted Living Center in Wakefield.
The visitation will be on Sunday, June 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Allen. Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the United Methodist Church, with Pastor Debra Tompsett-Welch officiating. Burial will be in the Concord Cemetery in Concord.
Memorials are suggested to the family for future designation.
Arrangements are under the direction of Bressler-Munderloh-Smith Funeral Home in Wakefield.
Helen Louise (Ankeny) Abts was born Dec. 5, 1924 in Dixon, the daughter of Chester and Grace (Hall) Ankeny. Helen grew up on the family farm north of Dixon.
In early life, Helen had a love for riding horses, but her father didn’t want her to ride the work horses in the evening as they had to work the next day. They did have neighbors though, that needed their horses exercised which made them some of Helen's favorite people.
She graduated Valedictorian from Dixon High School in 1942 and then finished a two-year teaching certificate from Wayne State College. Helen taught in the Wakefield and Belden Schools. It was while she was in Belden, that she met Louie. Helen was married to Louis Abts on April 10, 1949 at the Dixon Methodist Church. To this union the couple had three sons and two daughters, David, John, Karen, Richard and Cheryl.
Louie and Helen farmed around Belden and Dixon over the years. She was busy caring for children, and animals alike. She did all chores inside and out. She was a devoted wife and mother and helped break ground to have classes in schools to help the handicapped. She and Louie also joined other parents in helping to form work opportunities for the handicapped after their school years. She cared for Louie at home, after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s until he passed in 1996.
Helen was an excellent mother to all her children, but her mothering duties didn’t end when her children became adults, Helen cared deeply for Karen, and you would often see Helen taking Karen to as many activities as she could. So much of what she did included attending sporting events of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This included winning Fan of the Year at Wakefield Community School with her daughter, Karen.
Helen’s faith was a cornerstone of her life which guided her to be the kind, loving person she was. She taught Sunday School for years as well as overseeing the youth group.
Helen was known for her angel food cakes, ability to recite poetry from memory and her beautiful handwriting. Every evening she completed the Omaha World Herald crossword puzzle while watching a sporting event on “mute”. She was an avid Husker fan through good times and bad.
At the age of 94, when she agreed to purchase hearing aides, she nestled into her easy chair to complete her nightly puzzle and then thought, “where did all these crickets come from?” She realized where the problem started and removed the hearing aides and the crickets at the same time.
Helen will be sorely missed as she was special to all who knew her.
Survivors include her children, David (Marilyn) Abts and John (Nancy) Abts of Laurel; Richard (Denise) Abts of Dixon and Cheryl (Steve) Greve of Wakefield; 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Chester and Grace; husband, Louis; daughter, Karen; grandson, Max Greve; brothers, Ron (Lois) Ankeny and Earl (Marge Armfield) Ankeny; sister, Lois (Dale) Westadt.
