Helen Ramer

HELEN RAMER

Iowa City

Helen Ramer, 100, Iowa City, died Tuesday, March 15, 2022, at her home. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 19, at the Snyder and Hollenbaugh Funeral and Cremation Services, Lone Tree. Following the visitation, committal services will take place in the Lone Tree Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.sandhfuneralservice.com.

Helen Odelia Novstrup was born on Nov. 17, 1921, in Reeder, N.D., the daughter of Jake and Anna (Fiske) Novstrup. She attended a one room school house until age 13, when she was sent to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins, on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, off Seattle due to the depression and draught. She moved back to Sisseton, South Dakota after a year, where her family had relocated. She moved in with an older couple in town, working for room and board while attending high school. While in her Junior and Senior year, she waitress and lived above a restaurant in Sisseton. After high school, she attended Lee Beauty School in St. Paul, Minn. In 1941, while out with friends, she met her future husband, who was with a group of his soldier friends, on a street corner, waiting for a bus. On March 25, 1942, Helen was united in marriage to Robert C. Ramer at the Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., before Bob was sent overseas, along with his three brothers. She then moved to Los Angeles to work at a T.V. commissary. She often waited on actor Ronald Reagan, but did not care for his poor tipping. After Bob returned from the war, they farmed at Conesville, Nichols and then Lone Tree. Helen also worked for Proctor and Gamble for 20 years, retiring to Heber Springs, Ark., and moved to Iowa City in 1996. Helen served as a 4H Leader and Cleburne County Planning and Zoning Commission. She took computer classes in her 80s. She taught her granddaughters a lot of life skills, baking cakes, sewing, keeping house, country western dancing, roller skating and swimming. Helen also enjoyed traveling to Europe to visit friends and family, gardening, socializing and playing cards. Helen took great joy in her grandkids.

Helen will be deeply missed by sons, Ralph Ramer and Larry Ramer of Iowa City; four granddaughters, Stephanie (Nate) Ramer-Heubner, Natalie (Tracy) Miller, Elizabeth (Brian) Willham and Kathrine (Matt) Denniston; and great-grandchildren, Callie and Grace Willham, Beatrix Denniston, Evan, Liza and Ruby Heubner and Norah and Stella Miller.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughters-in-law, Christine Ramer and Molly Ramer-Houlinham; brother, Howard Novstrup; and sister, Vernena Novstrup Staab Bergin.