HELEN TADEWALDT, Obituary

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. Helen Irene Tadewaldt, 81, formerly of Great Falls and Lewistown, died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002, at a her winter home in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., of complications from Parkinson's disease.

Cremation has taken place and memorial services are pending.

Helena was born Oct. 30, 1921, to August and Mildred Kickbusch at the family homestead near Hingham. She attended country schools and graduated from Havre High School in 1939. She worked for F.A. Buttrey in Havre and then for radio station KFBB in Great Falls.

Helen married Charles E. Tadewaldt on Feb. 1, 1948, at Great Falls. Besides being an active homemaker and church member, Helen worked as a bookkeeper and tax preparer. She was a talented seamstress, sewing for her family and making countless quilts for the Lutheran World Relief program.

Her husband's employment with the railroad resulted in several moves for the family to Harlowton, Great Falls and Lewistown. During their 54-year marriage, the Tadewaldts built two homes and a duplex in Great Falls and renovated an older home in Lewistown. After retiring, the couple became "snowbirds" and traveled to Alaska and all of the lower 48 states, the Holy Land, and Europe. Helen's diagnosis with Parkinson's disease in 1989 curtailed their traveling. They sold their home in Lewistown and spent winters in Desert Hot Springs and summers in Great Falls.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Eleanor Laugen; and brother, Roy Kickbusch.

Survivors include her husband, Charles, at the winter home in Desert Hot Springs; sons Art (Vicki) Tadewaldt of Great Falls and Fred Tadewaldt of Sacramento, Calif .; daughters, Charlene (Dan) Erickson of Great Falls and Carla Tadewaldt and her husband, Trace Oliver of Desert Hot Springs; sisters, Estelle Ward of Auburn, Wash., Wilma Berg of Great Falls and Jean Kato of Thompson Falls and Desert Hot Springs; brother, Willard Kickbusch of Havre; five grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Memorials may be made to Parkinson's Resource Organization, 74-090 El Paseo, Suite 102, Palm Desert, CA 92260.