Helen Sprouse

Helen Sprouse, 102, Ellendale, N.D., died Saturday, July 10, 2010, at Prince of Peace Care Center, Ellendale.

Helen Fuhre was born Nov. 6, 1907, on a farm near Merricourt, N.D., in Whitestone Township, the daughter of Martin and Alvina Fuher. She grew up and attended grade school in Whitestone Township, high school at State Normal and two years at Industrial College, Ellendale. She married Ivan Sprouse on May 23, 1941, in Moorhead, Minn. They moved to Ellendale. She taught rural school for 14 years, returning to college each summer to work toward her degree. In May 1944, she entered the U.S. Army where she was a cryptographic technician for the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. She was honorably discharged in February 1945. On Dec. 2, 1951, she was baptized into the Ellendale Methodist Church. She taught at Guelph School, worked in the Dickey County Auditor’s Office from 1946 to 1951 as clerk and later deputy. She was appointed county superintendent of schools in 1952, was elected and re-elected to the position. She completed 30 years of service in education on May 1, 1981, and fully retired in 1993 after 41 years of service. She worked on the South Central Mental and Retardation Board for eight years and the Alpha Incorporated Board. She was a member of Retired Teachers, Homemakers Club, Hope Circle, Eastern Star, and a lifetime member of the VFW. He died Sept. 4, 1992. She entered Evergreen Place, Ellendale, in 2004, and moved to Prince of Peace Care Center, Ellendale, in 2009. She enjoyed cooking, baking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, gardening, crafting, crossword puzzles and solitaire.

She is survived by two sisters, Lola Dockter, Stevens Point, Wis., and Marjorie Leet, Healdsburg Senior Living Community, Calif.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; three sisters, Helen Fuher, Emma Horn and Wilma Mock; four brothers, Nels, Joseph “Butch”, Phillip and Earl.

Services: 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Presbyterian United Methodist Church, Ellendale, with the Rev. Paul Henschen officiating.

Visitation: 2 to 7 p.m. today, Hoven Funeral Chapel, Ellendale, and one hour before the service at the church.

Burial: Ellendale City Cemetery, Ellendale. Military honors by Herman-Schlinker Post #137.

Online guestbook: www. hovenfuneralchapel.com

Tags: obituaries, obits, helen, sprouse