Ethel Eleanor Heller
November 10, 1927 — September 13, 2015
Ethel Eleanor Heller was born on November 10, 1927 to Alfred and Beatrice (Leuschen) Stessman in Panama, Iowa. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Panama where she also attended and graduated from school. She went on to college at Mt. St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas.
She was united in marriage on November 3, 1948 to Alvin Heller in Panama. They became parents to four children: Patty, Karen, Ron, and John.
Ethel taught grade school at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Portsmouth, was the bookkeeper for Heller Gas and Oil, and worked at the Portsmouth Branch of the Shelby County State Bank for over twenty years.
She was a talented seamstress and enjoyed crocheting, quilting, and being in her quilting club. She was an active member of St. Mary’s and served as church lector and on the Liturgy Committee. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary.
Ethel became a resident of Elm Crest Retirement Home in September of 2014 and it was there that she died on September 13, 2015 at the age of eighty-seven years, ten months, and three days. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Margaret Walsh, and brother Alvin Stessman.
She is survived by her husband of nearly sixty-seven years Alvin Heller of Portsmouth, Iowa; children: Patricia and her husband Ralph Knipstein of Apple Valley, California, Karen and her husband Thomas Ortner of Yuba City, California, Ronald Heller and his wife Dana of Alpharetta, Georgia, and John Heller and Lana of Harlan, Iowa; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; sister Bernice and her husband Mel Book of Earling, Iowa; brother William Stessman of Charlotte, North Carolina; other family members and friends.
She was united in marriage on November 3, 1948 to Alvin Heller in Panama. They became parents to four children: Patty, Karen, Ron, and John.
Ethel taught grade school at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Portsmouth, was the bookkeeper for Heller Gas and Oil, and worked at the Portsmouth Branch of the Shelby County State Bank for over twenty years.
She was a talented seamstress and enjoyed crocheting, quilting, and being in her quilting club. She was an active member of St. Mary’s and served as church lector and on the Liturgy Committee. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary.
Ethel became a resident of Elm Crest Retirement Home in September of 2014 and it was there that she died on September 13, 2015 at the age of eighty-seven years, ten months, and three days. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Margaret Walsh, and brother Alvin Stessman.
She is survived by her husband of nearly sixty-seven years Alvin Heller of Portsmouth, Iowa; children: Patricia and her husband Ralph Knipstein of Apple Valley, California, Karen and her husband Thomas Ortner of Yuba City, California, Ronald Heller and his wife Dana of Alpharetta, Georgia, and John Heller and Lana of Harlan, Iowa; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; sister Bernice and her husband Mel Book of Earling, Iowa; brother William Stessman of Charlotte, North Carolina; other family members and friends.
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