Helen E. Fairbanks

Aug. 16, 1914-Sept. 11, 2007

KEARNEY -- Helen Elizabeth Fairbanks, 93, of Kearney, formerly of Shelton, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.

Services will be 1 p.m. Friday at O'Brien -- Straatmann Funeral Home, 4115 Ave N, Kearney.  The Rev. John Ewton will officiate.  Burial will be in Shelton Cemetery at 3:30 p.m. 

Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the funeral home.

Mrs. Fairbanks was born Aug. 16, 1914, to Paul and Susanna (Leitner) Goltl near Herndon.

On Sept. 15, 1940, she married Loren E. Fairbanks at Herndon.  He died Jan. 8, 2004.

Survivors of the immediate family include three sons and daughters-in-law, Loren, Jr. and Vicki Fairbanks, Kearney; David and Carolyn Fairbanks, Lexington; Jim and Marsha Fairbanks, Shelton.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and two sisters.

Additional survivors include grandchildren, Liz Creech and husband, Lance, Hastings; Cathy Fairbanks, San Francisco, Calif.; Charles Fairbanks, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Stacy Fairbanks, Portland, Ore.; Alan Fairbanks, Lincoln; Justin Abbott and wife, Rose, Lincoln; and Trent Abbott and wife, Jen, Omaha. Also surviving are three great-grandchildren,  Christian and Connor Creech, Hastings and Megan Abbott, Omaha.

She graduated from Herndon rural high school and Hastings Business College.  Following college graduation in 1934 she was employed by the Nebraska State Legislature in Lincoln for two years.

She then returned to Hastings to work at Dominy Insurance Company for six years.  She and her husband resided in Hastings for 10 years then moved to Shelton where she worked for 25 years as a secretary at Fairbanks International, a farm equipment dealership founded by her husband and her in 1950.

After retirement in 1975, the couple wintered in McAllen, Texas for almost 25 years.  In 1999, they moved to Well-Life at Kearney.

She was a member of the Shelton United Methodist Church.  She enjoyed her family, cross-stitching quilt tops, coin collecting, baking, and organizing scrapbooks and picture albums.

Memorials are suggested to the Shelton United Methodist Church or donor's choice.  Online condolences or personal reflections can be submitted at www.osafh.com .

O'Brien-Straatmann Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.