Helen F. Heitschmidt, 83, of Hutchinson, died Dec. 2, 2011, at Good Samaritan Center. She was born Oct. 2, 1928, in Elbing, Kan., the daughter of Jesse Franklin and Gladys Arlene Flowers James.

Helen was a 1946 graduate of Lorraine, Kansas High School. She was a retired secretary for Farm Bureau Claims Office in South Hutchinson, working there for 25 years. She was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, the church Senior Choir, the Reno Choral Society, and loved to bowl and play golf.

On May 16, 1946, she married Wilbur O. "Wimpy" Heitschmidt in Holyrood, Kan. He died Jan. 6, 1996. Survivors include: son, Dick and Kaye Heitschmidt of Hutchinson; daughter, Diane Shackelford of Hutchinson; two grandchildren, Kym and Matthew Delventhal of Kansas City, Mo. and Cody and Tamara Heitschmidt of Hutchinson; and four great-grandchildren, Baylee and Chance Heitschmidt and Kyra and Mason Delventhal. She was preceded in death by her father, Jesse; her mother, Gladys James Kruse; stepfather, Ben Kruse; brothers, Lloyd and Jack James; and two stepbrothers, Vernon and Delmar Kruse.

Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Hutchinson. Private family graveside services will be held. Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, with family receiving friends from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the church or Hospice of Reno County, in care of the mortuary.