Helen Lucille Harkins

Helen Lucille Harkins DAVENPORT, Iowa - Helen Lucille Harkins, 84, of Davenport, died Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, at Genesis East Hospital after an extended illness, and now we're sure she's in heaven sharing stories with her parents, sisters, brothers, friends and grandson, Chrys Ott. Funeral Service will be 10 a.m. on Friday, September 11, 2009, at the Runge Mortuary amp; Crematory, Davenport. Burial will be at 1 p.m. at Buffalo Memorial Cemetery. A luncheon will follow at Runge Mortuary. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 10, 2009, and from 9 to 10 a.m. on Friday, September 11, 2009, at the funeral home. She loved to laugh and could talk to anyone. That came in handy as a wife, mom, grandma, great-grandma, friend, neighbor and teacher. If there's a kitchen in heaven, she's already found it - and will be sharing coffee, pot roast and sugar cookies. Outside, she'll be planting a rainbow of flowers. Helen was born in the sticks in Madison, Missouri, the daughter of Francis Barton Ellison and Nancy Martin Ellison. She moved to Montpelier, when she was five and graduated from Buffalo High School. A year later, she started teaching in a...[more]

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ne-room schoolhouse on Muscatine Island. She married Max B. Harkins on June 9, 1951, in Rochester, Minnesota. She met Max, who later owned Harkins Insurance Agency, when she was a waitress and he tended bar at the big hall in Montpelier. They were known for decades as great dancers. She had a feisty, funny attitude and her middle name reminded many of Lucille Ball. She spent most of her 41-year teaching career at Monroe Elementary in Davenport, where she worked magic on the walkers and talkers, who then shaped up and often came back to visit her. She also charmed students for decades by reading Little House on the Prairie stories, which reminded her of her heritage. A lifelong learner, she got early training at Iowa State Teachers College, then a bachelor's from St. Ambrose College in 1965 and a master's from Western Illinois University in 1982. She was a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Davenport. She was active in retirement, volunteering for Hospice, Good Samaritan, Food Pantry and helping family and friends. She was proud of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who showed up from several states each Christmas for great cooking, lots of laughs, funny shirts and loud talking. She will be missed by her husband of 58 years, Max Harkins; a son, Ken Harkins of Davenport; daughters, Ruth Ann Gianneschi and husband, Tom, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Anita Harkins of Acworth, Georgia; Lisa Jiran and husband, Don, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; a brother, Harold Ellison of Davenport; a sister, Peggy Owens; granddaughters Casey Calhoun of Acworth, Georgia; Susie Ford and husband, Guy, of Columbia, Missouri; and Jennifer Matic and husband, Ken, of Pueblo, Colorado; and four great-grandchildren.