Helen Heck Chamness

Helen Heck Chamness Creal Springs- 8221;Helen Irene Heck Chamness went home to be with her Heavenly Father on August 15, 2007. She lived a full life and will be missed by her numerous friends. Helen was born on March 21, 1924 to Raymond Andrew and Bertie (Dees) Heck in Franklin County. She married Carroll S. Chamness on April 5, 1939 in Jackson, MO, and they had over 62 years together seeing many changes in the world around them. Helen and Carroll bought Carroll’s grandfather’s farm in 1953 where he continued to raise fruit as his father and grandfather had. Helen’s role was to mainly help during harvest season, processing and selling the fruit. After retirement, they spent their final years together living most of the year in Fort Myers, FL. Helen continued wintering there until November 2006 when she had to return home and live with her family. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law Carolyn Sue and Gary Edward Troxel; grandson and wife, Edward Carroll and Jo Ann Troxel; great grandson, James Edward Troxel, all of Creal Springs. Other survivors include a sister and brother-in-law, Imogene and Charles Brush of Creal Springs, sister-in-laws Lucille Heck of Carbondale, Sybil Chamness of Marion, Helen Heck of St. Anne, two special friends, Dewey & Dorris Odum, several nieces and nephews, and friends too numerous to mention. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a sister, Genevieve Carmichael; two brothers, Kenneth and Donald Heck; three brothers-in-law, Ralph, Wayne, and Hal Chamness; two sisters-in-law, Betty Heck and Helen Chamness; a brother-in-law, William Carmichael. Helen was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church in Marion and attended The Church of Siesta Bay while living in Fort Myers, Florida, where she had many good friends from around the world. Helen loved to go to Tuesday night and Thursday morning Bible Study and the Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club while she was in Fort Myers, FL. At home, in Creal Springs, she looked forward to going to church on Sunday morning and night and again on Wednesday nights. She also loved to do crafts, which included sewing, crocheting, knitting, Swedish weaving, making shell animals and pictures, painting, beading, and many other activities. She was good at anything she tried. Her final activity was tacking a quilt on Friday, August 10, 2007. Helen had many stories to tell of her beginning housekeeping using orange crates and dynamite kegs as furniture and more stories of all her occupations. She had a gift of making people laugh about her real-life situations. She told of working in the Glass Factory in Alton, Hoosier Cardinal and Radionics at the Ordinance Plant in the Crab Orchard Refuge, and finally going to Cosmetology School at VTI of SIU. Later she attended advanced Cosmetology Classes on campus at SIU where she received her teaching license. She opened a beauty shop and entered and won hair styling contests in Beauty Shows. She went to Hawaii representing the Illinois Hairdressers Association twice. She also worked for the State of Illinois, which included writing and giving the test in Springfield and Chicago to new Cosmetology graduates to get their license and inspecting Cosmetology Schools making sure they were teaching the correct curriculum. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M., Saturday, August 18, 2007, at the Blue Funeral Home in Marion, with Dr. Bob Dickerson and Rev. Jim Holderfield officiating. Rev. Russ Kauffman, pastor of Siesta Bay Church, Fort Myers, Florida, will also speak. Visitation will be after 5 p.m., Friday, August 17, 2007, at the funeral home. Burial will be at the Simmons Cemetery, Bost Orchard Road, Creal Springs, IL. Memorials may be made to the Marion First Baptist Church Building Fund or to Hospice of Southern Illinois. Envelopes will be available at the Blue Funeral Home; or may be sent c/o Blue Funeral Home, PO Box 411, Marion, IL 62959.