Cushman, Helen Agnes

Helen Agnes Cushman, 99, of Cedar Rapids, died Monday, Dec. 27, 2010, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy following a brief illness. A Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Patrick Catholic Church by the Rev. Ivan Nienhaus. Burial: Mount Calvary Cemetery. A rosary will be recited Tuesday at 6 p.m. where friends may visit from 3 to 6 p.m. at Teahen Funeral Home, and again Wednesday after 9 a.m. at the church.

She is survived by her three children, Kathleen Burns and Jeanne (Jim) Dvorsky of Cedar Rapids, and Jim (Cheryl) of Omaha, Neb.; 11 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Helen was preceded in death by Harold, her husband of 40 years.

Helen was born on March 25, 1911, the daughter of Patrick Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Burke. She was a lifelong resident of Cedar Rapids, graduating from the original St. Patrick High School in 1929 and also was a graduate of Cedar Rapids Business College. Helen was very active during her long and joyous life and was devoted to a faithful and spiritual life as a member of the St. Patrick community and choir. Her Irish heritage and Catholic faith held a very special place in her heart.

Helen enjoyed traveling on many family vacations with the children and Harold. She later visited the locations of her parents' birth in Ireland, kissed the Blarney stone and also visited Medjugorje in her 80s, actually climbing the summit to the site where the Virgin Mary appeared.

She was a billing analyst at Johnson Gas Appliance Company. After her retirement she managed a condominium complex on Miami Beach for several years, returning to Cedar Rapids to retire permanently in 1985. Helen was an accomplished seamstress and “starred” in a Mercy Hospital “Fit For Life” television commercial in the 1990s.

Memorials can be made to St. Patrick Church and the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy.

Online condolences may be left for the family at .