Helen "Tuffy" Nissen

VisitationFriday, October 3, 2008after 10:00 a.m.Ohde Funeral Home, Coon Rapids

Graveside Funeral ServicesFollowing visitation at 11:30 a.m.Oak Hill Cemetery, NW of Coon RapidsRev. Lynn Gunderson, officiating

   Helen Josephine, daughter of Seth and Roxy (Cretsinger) Parker, was born March 4, 1921 at Coon Rapids, Iowa.  She graduated from Coon Rapids High School where she was a basketball star and one of the first 18 people inducted into the Iowa Hall of Fame.  Helen earned the nickname Tuffy? in school, and it stuck with her throughout her life.  She studied business at A.I.B. and played basketball, earning All-American status.  As a result of her basketball career she modeled for Converse sneakers.   On May 11, 1944 Helen was united in marriage with George Nissen at Elk Horn.  George was enlisted in the Navy, and the family lived in Elk Horn until moving to Bayard in the early 1960s.  In addition to being a homemaker and mother, Helen worked at the Bayard Care Center for a couple of years.  Then she worked in the laundry at the Woodward State Hospital from 1965 until her retirement in the late 1980s.  Together with her husband, she then ran Nissen Crafts, traveling to sell their crafts at fairs in the area.  Helens first priority was her family and it was very important to her to pass on the gifts of spiritual love and compassion for others to her children.

   George died in 1993 and within the year Helen moved to the Adel Manor in Adel.  She was hospitalized at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa for a few weeks before she died there on Monday, September 29, 2008.  She was 87 years, 6 months and 25 days of age.

   Preceding Helen in death are her parents Seth and Roxy Parker; husband George Nissen; daughter Gynet Nissen; son Marty Nissen; grandson Cory Nissen and niece Roxy Weddum.

   She is survived by six children: Mark Nissen and wife Carol of Des Moines; Georgina and husband Gailain Coenen of Grimes; Marda and husband Richard Volkamer of Ankeny; Ginger and husband Larry Hilgenberg of Coon Rapids; Myron Nissen of Denton, TX; Galan Nissen and wife Pat of Ankeny; 12 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; sisters Edith Bandel and Leila Weddum, both of Mesa, AZ; brother Gurney Parker of Mesa, AZ and their families; other relatives and friends.