Helen Irene Tubbs

February 20, 1934 - August 13, 2023

Visitation

• Date: August 18, 2023
• Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
• Location: Champion Funeral Home - Osage, Iowa

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Funeral Service

• Date: August 19, 2023
• Time: 10:30 a.m.
• Location: United Church of Christ - Osage, Iowa

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Burial

• Date: August 19, 2023
• Location: Osage Cemetery - Osage, Iowa

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Helen Irene Tubbs, 89, of Osage, Iowa, gained her angel wings on August 13, 2023, following complications with her atrial fibrillation heart issues. Helen dedicated her life to caring for people and exemplified sacrifice, extraordinary strength, tremendous work ethic, leadership, tenacity, a caring and generous heart, and a deep love of Christ, community, and family. Visitation will be held from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Friday, August 18, 2023 at Champion Funeral Home in Osage. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, 2023 at the United Church of Christ in Osage. Burial will be at the Osage Cemetery. Helen was born on February 20, 1934 in Osage, Iowa, to Rollin and Clare Angell. On June 19, 1955, she married Rollin Tubbs, the love of her life. From this union, they welcomed three children: Kimberly, Kevin, and Craig. Helen graduated from Osage High School in 1951. She attended Methodist Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, Minnesota, and graduated in the top ten percent of her class of 100 in 1955. Helen had a servant’s heart. She loved God and her church and was elected to the United Church of Christ Leadership Board. She was also active in teaching Sunday School, Mayflower Circle, and Altar Guild. Because she lost her husband, Rollin, to brain cancer in 1975, Helen tried to provide hope for those who were grieving. She founded the community Grief to Hope Bereavement Support Group and organized funeral dinners at the church for 12 years. Her most cherished accomplishment was co-chairing Shared Table, a collaborative effort involving the Osage church communities to provide monthly free meals. Thousands of meals were served with her hard work and leadership. “Like Jesus feeding the 5,000,” she remarked joyfully. Her family enjoyed listening to Grandma Helen sing “Silent Night” at the candlelight Christmas Eve service and “How Great Thou Art.” Helen was a passionate caregiver, working as a nurse for 60 years. She worked at Mitchell County Hospital for 40 years, retiring as Head ER Nurse in 1996. From 1996-2012 she worked part-time in all four nursing homes in the county. Although Helen found great satisfaction in her nursing, she wrote in her journal, “57 years of nursing and 3 years of training. I’m tired!” After retirement, Helen became passionate about volunteering in the community. People in Osage often saw her at Shop on State or the CRC in her volunteer positions. She was active with fundraisers for cancer, volunteering for Relay for Life and the daffodil fundraiser. One of her favorite volunteer positions was in an Osage classroom where she spent time with the class as their adopted Grandma. The class recognized her with a beautiful handmade quilt which was proudly displayed in her home. Family was everything to Grandma Helen. She loved visiting and spending time with her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. She loved to reminisce and tell stories about living in Germany, while Rollin was stationed overseas serving in the military. Other favorite stories included growing up on the farm. She despised the chickens who pecked at her legs while she gathered the eggs. Grandma Helen loved sharing holiday traditions. Her most-loved tradition was gathering everyone around her homemade cake to sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus on Christmas. She was a masterful cake decorator and was always decorating cakes for birthdays, baptisms, and other special occasions. Helen was a talented cook who enjoyed spending time in the kitchen and swapping recipes with her daughter, Kim. Grandma loved cooking for family and always made sure she had plenty of her famous chocolate chip oatmeal cookies or Christmas fudge on her counter to share. She was the kids’ and grandkids’ best cheerleader at volleyball, basketball, baseball, football games, music concerts, recitals, and show choir events over the years. She found joy in creating handmade treasures like embroidered quilts and towels, sequined Christmas stockings, crocheted afghans, fabric quilt pictures, and diamond dotz. Grandma Helen put love into each item she made for her kids, grandkids, and future generations. Over the years, her efforts to help on large or small projects for her children earned her the nickname, “Hurricane Helen.” In her retirement years, she was downgraded to “Tropical Storm Helen.” Walking into Grandma Helen’s house and seeing her smiling in her comfy purple bathrobe was a slice of heaven on earth, a safe harbor, a place to rejuvenate and be cared for as only Grandma Helen could. With a deep, deep faith, Helen looked forward to the day that she would meet Jesus and be reunited with her beloved husband, Rollin, her parents, her daughter, Kim, and grandson, Jacob. She Is survived by: son-in-law Dean Pfaltzgraff; granddaughters Jessica (Matt) Schreurs and Jenna (Justin) Boswell; great grandchildren, Gavin Schreurs, Brady Schreurs, Grayson Boswell, Brooklyn Boswell; son Kevin (Beth) Tubbs; grandchildren Eric (MacKenzie) Tubbs, Andrew Tubbs, Allie Tubbs, Blake Tubbs; son Craig Tubbs and partner Tiffany Diles; grandchildren Kayla (Brett) Zimmerman, Emmalie Tubbs, Amanda Tubbs, Corbin Tubbs; step grandchildren Austin Diles, and Westin Diles. Memorial contributions will be distributed to charities near and dear to Helen’s heart. If mailing condolences, please address to: Kevin Tubbs, 2813 47th Street, Des Moines, Iowa, 50310. The family thanks you for your support at this time of grief. Champion Funeral Home 641-732-3706