Helen Alice Ausberger, 90, of Jefferson, daughter of Johannes and Luise Riessen, was born on March 15, 1913, at Charter Oak, Iowa. She died December 1, 2003, at the Jefferson Manor where she had been a resident since having a stroke in the spring of 2002.

Helen grew up in Charter Oak as part of a happy family of 13. She attended the Lutheran Elementary School and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. After graduating from Charter Oak High School, she worked for the local newspaper. The bricks for the red brick home were made from a clay pit at the edge of town. The house always had pleasant smells of strong coffee and homemade bread. It is now graciously decorated and occupied by Helen’s niece, Nancy and her family.

On January 27, 1935 Helen was married to Martin Lee Ausberger and they raised a family of three in Hardin Township north of Jefferson. Jeanette Ausberger Bower, Robert and James were all part of the family farming operation. Helen was active on the farm where through the years she warmed baby pigs by the wood fired cook stove, worked in a large garden and canned the produce from it, canned meat from home butchered meat, raised and processed chickens, cooked for threshers and corn shellers, kept books, drove for parts and hauled children to their many activities. After Lee died in 1971, she continued to help Bob and later grandsons Kurt and David in the farming operation.

In addition to her farm duties, Helen was a 4-H leader, member of Women’s Club, Margaret Fuller Club, Hardin Friendly Circle, United Methodist Church, Happy Hour, Farm Bureau, the Lincoln Highway Association and several Jefferson card clubs. She loved road trips and through the years traveled with Lee, the family, friends, grandchildren and her sisters to most of the 50 states, Canada, Mexico and Europe where she visited the Riessen family home on the Island of Fehmarn off the coast of Germany. Helen loved music and musicals and sang with a Greene County Choral Group.

After Lee died, Helen spent winters at her mobile home in Phoenix. Here she also played cards and enjoyed a large group of friends. She loved road trips in the southwest with Jim and Jeanette.

After her stroke her family and friends continued to take her on almost daily outings. She loved to look for wildlife, such as deer and the geese at Spring Lake, trains and farmers in their fields and to go out to eat.

Helen is survived by her children, Jeanette Bower and her husband, Dwight, of Boise, ID; Robert Ausberger and his wife, Joyce, of Jefferson, IA and James Ausberger of Phoenix, AZ. Also surviving are her grandchildren and great grandchildren: Kurt and Rhonda Oathout, Angie and Otto; Mark and Monica Oathout, Patrick, Peter and Grace; Steve and Suzanne Oathout; Sara and David Bergstrom, Aydin and Gabriel; David and LeeAnna Ausberger, Lucas and Sophie; Susan and Mark Hawthorne; Jessi and Kodi and her sister, Irene Huelsman and her husband, Gene, of Charter Oak, IA.

Memorials may be made to the Jefferson Public Library, Lincoln Highway Association or the Greene County Conservation Service.