Helen Laura Hebron (Petersen)

Helen L. Hebron
Helen L. Hebron, 91, of Sioux City died Saturday, June 28, 2008, at a Sioux City hospital, following an unexpected heart attack.
Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at Augustana Lutheran Church with the Rev. Del Olivier and the Rev. Cindy Johnson officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a 7 p.m. prayer service, at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent online to www.christysmith.com .
Helen was born June 1, 1917, at her home in Rock County, Minn., the 12th of 14 children of Frank Carl Peter Petersen and Adelia (Joens) Petersen. She graduated from high school in Luverne, Minn. in 1935. Helen was confirmed in the Lutheran faith.
She married Foster H. Hebron on Jan. 16, 1950, in Spencer, Iowa. He died September 1998 in Sioux City.
She began her working career as a waitress, traveling across the United States during the Great Depression. She worked in packing plants in Sioux City and Sioux Falls. Helen managed a restaurant at Fourth and Court Streets for a number of years. She worked for 10 years at Zenith on the assembly line and at Dyna Tech. For more than 20 years she was employed as a caregiver for the elderly and infirm in Siouxland.
She was a recipient of the Governor’s Volunteer Award. She volunteered for the American Red Cross, Siouxland Senior Center, The Gospel Mission, Irving Elementary School and the A.I.D. Center, among others.
Helen was a polio survivor of the epidemic in the late 1940s. Her cooking won county fair ribbons. She was an avid X’s fan, never missing a game from her reserved seat. She was a competitive card player. She was active in the Democratic party, serving as a volunteer. She was a member of Augustana Lutheran Church.
Survivors include: three daughters, Marsha L. Melnichak of Farmington, Ark., Paula Hebron of Sioux City and Marilyn Sprague of Albuquerque, N.M.; two sons, Feyber Hebron and his wife Carol of East Grand Forks, Minn., and David Hebron of Ozark, Mo.; nine grandchildren, Marilyn and her husband Daniel Soukup, Michael and his wife Jodi Melnichak, Craig Hebron, Lynette Hebron, Alyn Sprague, Michael Hebron, Ellen Hebron, Dennis Hebron and Donald Hebron; great-grandchildren; two sisters, Hilda Ihlen of Luverne, Minn., and Dorothy Nabholtz of Waterloo, Iowa; and numerous nieces and nephews.
In addition of her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Foster Jr.; a great-granddaughter, Jeni Hebron; a son-in-law, Joseph M. Melnichak; four brothers, Emil, Albert, Roy and Donald; and seven sisters, Emma, Elsie, Ella, Edna, Esther, Lillian and