Helen Minnie Friedrichs

Helen passed away peacefully in Dolores, CO at the home of her daughter Jenifer Ibscher. She was born in Spencer, IA, one of five children of Ida and John Freddie Gerdes. After graduating from Fulda High School, the family moved to Sioux Falls, SD where Helen soon met her forever love, Gordon Henry Friedrichs. She would reminisce about how she met this grumpy man for the first time while waitressing in the local diner. The next time this grumpy man popped in, she saw him and asked her sister-in-law to please wait on him. Well, Gordon only wanted Helen’s attention, and so he waited. The romance blossomed from there. Helen and Gordon were married on June 26, 1955 at St. John Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. They would be blessed with daughter Jenifer and son Ronald while in Sioux Falls. Moving to Denver, CO in 1959, they soon welcomed their daughter Susan into the world.
In 1969, they moved to Paramount, CA then to Towaoc, CO in 1975 and back to Paramount until 1992 at which time they retired and followed daughter Jenifer and family to Dolores, CO. Helen’s love for her family ran deep and she would remind everyone how proud and fortunate she was with the family God provided her. She was a homemaker who loved to dance and listen to music, especially when Gordon was playing guitar and of course, she loved Neil Diamond. Western movies and TV shows were her favorite genre and in later years, she loved to do puzzles ... many, many puzzles.
Helen was preceded in death by her husband Gordon (2002), mother and father and brothers Elmer and Donald Gerdes. Helen is survived by her children Jenifer (Gary Smith) Ibscher of Dolores, CO, Ronald (Kim) Friedrichs of Long Beach, CA and Susan (Dan) Brady of Mohave Valley, AZ; 7 grandchildren: Joshua (Angela), Eric (Colleen), Kyle, Dana, Megan, Brian and Brett; 5 great grandchildren: Marina, Wyatt, Weston, Evan and Ben; and her siblings Marion Bonstetter and Leon “Red” Gerdes, both of Sioux Falls.
Memorial contributions can be made in her name to Trinity Lutheran Preschool, 208 N. Dolores, Cortez, CO 81323.