Helen Ryken, age 82, of Huron, died Friday, March 20, 2015, at the Violet Tschetter Memorial Home. A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Helen Mae Vellek was born on November 15, 1932, to Adolph and Christina (Podzimek) Vellek in Tyndall, South Dakota. She attended Buechler country grade school and received her GED in Storm Lake, Iowa. Helen went on to college at Mount Marty in Yankton, South Dakota. She later earned a business degree at N.B.T. in Sioux City, Iowa. Helen worked secretarial jobs in South Dakota, Iowa and Idaho. She later completed nursing school and worked for both the Iowa State Mental Hospital and the Idaho State Mental Hospital. She then worked as an escrow officer for Title Insurance and Trust Co. in Oakland, California, from 1957 until she retired in 1993.
She was married to Juanie Romaine Ryken in 1956 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The couple had one daughter, Valerie Ryken. The couple later divorced. After retiring, Helen moved to western Colorado where she lived with her daughter, Valerie for a brief time before returning home to South Dakota.
Helen enjoyed playing bingo and was considered the "Bingo Queen" by her family and friends. She especially enjoyed spending time with her brother, nieces and nephews and their families. She will be greatly missed.
Helen is preceded in death by her parents; three brothers, Robert Vellek, Raymond Vellek and Ernest Vellek; two sisters, Louise Stauffer and Alice Gastauer; one nephew and two nieces.
She is survived by her daughter, Valerie; her granddaughter, Christina Glassier; her grandson, Maxwell Montgomery; and her great grandson, Taylor Close, all of western Colorado.