Helen Loen

Helen Hollis (Hansen) Loen, age 85, of Chandler, AZ passed away on August 15, 2017 from natural causes. Helen was a respected member of the community having served for many years as an elementary school teacher in the Vicksburg school system. Helen pursued her Bachelors in education from Western Michigan University and received her teaching certificate in 1974. She married Orlin Kenneth Loen (deceased) in 1950, claiming that they started their romance at a lutefisk and lefse church dinner. Together, they spent most of their lives as residents of Kalamazoo where they were active members of Zion Lutheran Church for over 50 years. Helen was a supporter of many civic organizations including Kalamazoo Junior Symphony and Sons of Norway. She was an avid genealogist and produced several history books which are cherished as authoritative family documents. Born in Brookings, South Dakota, she was the daughter of Carl A. and Gladys E. (Manbeck) Hansen. She is survived by her children: Larry (Inta) Loen, Ralph (Charlene) Loen, Mark (Lillian) Loen, Barbara Loen Bullock, ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. In recent years, Helen has lived near her sons and granddaughters in Chandler, Arizona. Helen will be cremated in Arizona with a memorial service planned for September 16th at 11am, Zion Lutheran Church. She will be interred at Riverview Cemetery following the church service. Helen always had a great sense of humor and her friends would often be regaled with "Lena and Oley" jokes. As a teacher, she loved working with second-graders and in her later years, enjoyed meeting the children and grandchildren of her students. Arrangements by Langelands Family Funeral Home.