Helen Rychecky Rolfstad

Helen Rychecky Rolfstad, 89, of Scottsbluff, died Wednesday, July 20, 2011, at Heritage Estates in Gering. Her memorial service will be held 10:00 a.m., Monday, July 25, 2011, at Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel in Scottsbluff with Pastor Ron Nuss-Warren officiating. Inurnment will be in the Fairview Cemetery in Scottsbluff. Memorials may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice. Helen was born on a family farm near the Town of Ohiowa, Nebr., on Sunday, May 28, 1922, to Cyril M. and Helen V. Bernasek. Helen was the youngest of three daughters. She was baptized at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Milligan. When Helen was three years old the family moved to their farm on the Geneva route in Chelsea Township. Helen attended Chelsea School, District 32, through the eighth grade and attended Sunday school and church at the Chelsea United Bretheran Church. Helen graduated from Geneva High School in 1939 and took Normal Training to prepare her for a teaching career. In the fall of 1939 she began teaching in a rural school. After a few years she enrolled in Teachers College at the University of Nebraska from which she received a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. She became a member of Phi Lambda Theta, a teachers’ honorary society. When she was 17, Helen met her future husband, Leo Rychecky, at a dance she attended in Saline Center. They were married October 6, 1945, in Alliance, Nebr., where Helen was teaching in the Alliance Public Schools. The couple moved to Leo’s home area of Wilber, Nebr., and it was here that a son Jack was born 1949. In 1951 the family moved to Scottsbluff where Leo continued his auctioneering and real estate business, and Helen went back to teaching. She found every day of her career was a joy. Her biography was printed in Who’s Who in Education in the early 1990s. After Leo’s death Helen moved around a bit and made contact with a former beau, Telmar Rolfstad, she had met during World War II when he was stationed at the Alliance Air Base. After a separation of 50 years the couple married. They lived in Williston, N. Dak. After Telmar’s death Helen decided to move back to Scottsbluff to be closer to family and friends. She rejoined the First Presbyterian Church of which she had been a member many years before. She was a member of a Woman’s Circle., an Elder, a Deacon, a Sunday school teacher, and a church librarian. During her life Helen traveled throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa. She was a fabulous baker and made the best Czech kolache this side of heaven. Survivors are loving son Jack Rychecky and his caring wife Ann of Littleton, Colo.; grandchildren and their spouses Jill (Wes) Schrader of Littleton, Colo., Thom (Natalie) Rychecky of Edmond, Okla., Helen (Whitney) Hite of Madison, Wisc., and LTjg Per Rychecky of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash.; great granddaughter Lena Rose Rychecky of Edmond; step children, Tom (Dana) Rolfstad of Williston, N. Dak., Dorothy Rolfstad of Mandan, N. Dak., and John Rolfstad of Seattle, Wash; step grandchildren T.C. (Kelci) Rolfstad of Portland, Ore. and Anne Rolfstad of Mandan, N. Dak.; and her extended family and special cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Leo Rychecky (1988) and Telmar Rolfstad (1999); sisters and their spouses Elsie (Bill) Dungan and Lillian (Bill) Davis.