Helen Elizabeth Stead

Monday, April 20, 2020 1:59 pm

Helen Elizabeth Stead, 101 ¾, entered eternal rest April 15, 2020, at Green Lea Manor in Mabel, Minn. A memorial service will be held at the Canton Scotland Presbyterian Church at a later date, with inurnment at the Burr Oak Cemetery.

Helen was born July 19, 1918, in Winona, Minn. After graduation from Winona Senior High School she went to work at Peerless Chain Company in Winona as an office worker. Her office was across the street from where Donald worked and once they met that was the beginning of a love that lasted over 73 years. Don and Helen were married May 4, 1940, at the home of her parents. Several years later they moved to the Stead family farm near Burr Oak.

Farm life was a big change for Helen who had grown up in the city, but she adjusted to life on the farm. She gardened, raised chickens, prepared dinners for work crews and even on occasion drove the tractor.

Helen was known for her great cooking and always was willing to share a recipe. She canned or froze garden produce and her gigantic freezer always was full of homemade goodies.

Helen loved her family and was proud of them. She also loved music, knitting, quilting, crossword puzzles, strawberry shortcake, Scandinavian baking and making her famous homemade donuts. Helen was a member of the Canton Scotland Presbyterian Church where she served as an officer of its women’s group and spent many hours there with a group of friends making quilts. She had a beautiful voice and loved singing in the choir and also in duets. In recent weeks she enjoyed and found comfort in listening and singing along with old favorite hymns on CDs.

Helen is survived by three daughters: Barbara (John) Peck, of Moose Lake, Minn., Donna Zimmer, of Boca Raton, Fla. and Carol (Gary) McCabe, of Decorah; eight grandchildren; 24 great grandchildren; and 26 great-great-grandchildren; a sister, Betty Pataska, of La Crosse, Wis.; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband and best friend, Donald Stead; her parents, Harold and Ida Stokke (Berg), an infant sibling, a brother Arthur Stokke, a sister Lois Burns and a granddaughter Rikki McCabe.