Helen Britten

HELEN MAXINE BRITTEN

Cedar Rapids

Helen Maxine Britten, 97, passed away Saturday, June 6, 2015, at The Woodlands in the Meth-Wick Community in Cedar Rapids. Anderson Funeral Homes of Marshalltown is providing arrangements for cremation and burial in Riverside Cemetery.

Maxine was born Feb. 23, 1918, in Zearing, Iowa, to Robert A. and Nellie Jones Ricketts. She graduated from Zearing High School in 1934 and earned her teaching certificate from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls. She taught third and fourth grades in Henderson, Iowa, from 1936 to 1940. Maxine married her childhood sweetheart, Wayne H. Britten, on June 15, 1940, in Marshalltown, Iowa, where she lived and flourished for 69 years.

An avid bridge player, a student of handwriting analysis and lover of good food and wine, Maxine also actively participated in numerous social and philanthropic organizations. She cherished her family and her friends.

Maxine is survived by daughters and sons-in-law, Christine and John North of Cedar Rapids, Priscilla and Charles Winter of Littleton, Colo.; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Wayne in 1976; brothers, Carroll, Max, Bob, Wayne and Don Ricketts; and sisters, Ilene Womeldorff, Jeanette Allison and Mary Kay Thoreson.

The family extends grateful thanks to the Meth-Wick Woodlands staff and Hospice of Mercy for their loving care.

In lieu of a memorial service, Maxine asked that we celebrate her life and memory in the company of friends and family, dine well, laugh much, savor a glass of wine and relish the life we live.

Memorials may be directed to the Meth-Wick Community, the Marshalltown Public Library and the Marshalltown Federation of Women's Clubs (Binford House).