Helen Fettig

Helen Margaret Fettig, 72, Bismarck, beloved wife and mother, lost her long and courageous struggle with cancer on January 25, 2007. A mass of Christian burial will be held on Wednesday at 10:30 AM at Church of the Ascension, 1825 South 3rd Street, Bismarck, with Rev. Marvin Klemmer officiating. Helen will be laid to rest at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Mandan. Visitation will be Tuesday from 12:00 - 9:00 PM at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck, where a prayer service will be held at 6:30 PM. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Helen was the youngest of seven children born to William B. and Mary F. Egan of Weymouth, Massachusetts. She entered this world on March 6, 1934, at Weymouth's South Shore Hospital. Growing up in a large family and being the youngest child, gave her a unique perspective about life. Her brothers and sisters called her Helen. Her mother fondly referred to her as Maggie Margaret, she was always her father's little girl, and her husband likened her to an Irish Rose, by any other name. Helen attended the Immaculate Conception Elementary School in East Weymouth through grade eight. She then went on to complete her high school education at Weymouth High School. Upon her graduation, she received special recognition and was offered a position of employment in the Executive Department of the Federal Reserve Bank, U.S. Treasury in Boston, Massachusetts. It was an Easter weekend in 1953 that she met Leo K. Fettig, her husband to be. Leo was an enlisted man serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Salem which operated out of the port of Boston to destinations in Europe and the Middle East. On June 26, 1954, five days after he completed his tour of duty, Leo K. Fettig married Helen M. Egan at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in East Weymouth, Massachusetts. They returned to North Dakota to continue their education and never relinquished their residence in the state for the next fifty-two years. The last nine years, they resided at 329 Piccadilly Circle in Bismarck. Helen grew to love the prairie and the pioneer spirit that prevails. She was an avid reader that readily absorbed every book or periodical about the hardships of the early pioneers. She was a person of peace and solitude that respected all things great and small in God?s creation. The long summer evenings combined with the beautiful sunsets that are signature to North Dakota, were her time. She raised her children to learn from nature, to take pride in their heritage, and to respect the rights of others. Helen never lost sight of her own beginnings. Summer vacations back to New England were opportunities to acquaint and educate her young family with the adventure of her childhood. She had a planned itinerary for every vacation. She made sure her children were introduced to the revolutionary spirit of Lexington and Concord, the Plymouth Plantation and Plymouth Rock, Salem and its witches, and the sights and sounds of Colonial Boston. There were fun times too; the Boston Pops on the Fourth of July, scouring the beaches of Cape Cod, eating the sweet bellies of little neck clam, and always a final ride on the old wooden roller coaster at Nantasket Beach. She returned to the workplace after her family was grown. She accepted an offer of employment at the offices of the North Dakota Secretary of State where she worked in various capacities for the next eighteen years. She retired in 1997. Upon her retirement, Helen continued to read for motivation and enjoyment. She gardened and cultivated her flower beds in the summer months, and looked forward to the short trips to the mountains of Montana and Wyoming. She experienced much of the grandeur of our National Park System and cherished every minute of it. Helen Margaret Fettig's greatest treasures were her children and grandchildren. She considered them gifts from God, and thus, love was a commodity freely given to them, without conditions or incentives. In the end, she died as she had lived, believing in peace and being reconciled with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. She is survived by her husband, Leo; her daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Lester Schoenberg and their son, David; and her son and daughter-in-law, Leo K. Jr. and Betty Fettig, and their two children, Matthew and Megan, all of Bismarck. Helen has one living brother, John J. Egan of South Weymouth, Massachusetts. There are many aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews that are scattered throughout the states of North Dakota, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Helen was preceded in death by her parents, William B. and Mary F. Egan; three brothers, George, William Jr. Billie, and James Egan; and two sisters, Doris Holmes and Mary Keniston. She was special to all of us who knew and loved her. We will all miss her. We will miss her in the early morning when the dew is the heaviest on the blooms. We will miss her at midday when some distant church bell welcomes the faithful to prayer, and we will miss her in the evening when the last ray of sunlight bows to the horizon. We will look for her in the silence of the late night hours when sleep is a vagabond and the light in the den casts a soft glow to the hallway beyond. We will hasten to catch a glimpse of her. But lo - it is only our yearning hearts doing their wishful thinking. Too often we have seen her curled on the soft sofa in the den, raptured in a favorite book or verse. Surely we will long for her most, when the harsh prairie wind, gathers and mingles, with the essence of one, not so familiar heather, and the two together shall lift and carry the soft and gentle voice of her Irish mother, as she beckons her home. Maggie - Maggie - Maggie Memorials in lieu of flowers may be sent to Medcenter One Home Health and Hospice, PO Box 580, Bismarck, ND 58502 or the American Cancer Society, 2401 46th Avenue SE, Mandan, ND 58554.

Helen Fettig

March 6, 1934 - January 25, 2007