a resident of Kalispell, died Sunday, March 2, 2008, at the Immanuel Lutheran Home of natural causes. Services were held at 4 p.m. Monday, March 3, at the Buffalo Hill Funeral Home in Kalispell. Internment will be Wednesday, March 5, in the Haven of Rest Cemetery in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Helen was born July 14, 1914, in Brainerd, Minn., to Edward Pelkey and Mertie (Shelley) Pelkey. When she was 3 months old she and her parents moved to Watford City, N.D. She started school in Watford City then moved with her family to Pablo and Ronan. Helen was the oldest of nine children. She graduated from Ronan High School.

Helen was a charter member of the Kalispell Loggerette Club. She was also a member of the VFW Auxiliary and the Puyallup Methodist Church.

Helen loved more than anything being with her family. When she was younger she and her husband belonged to a square dance group, traveled the Western states in their camper, and worked in their garden. Helen loved to travel and had visited Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Alaska, Hawaii and took a cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Malcolm; her daughter, Mary Metcalf; her parents and all of her siblings, with exception of her youngest sister, Bonnie Burgess, and brother-in-law, Colin Burgess, both of England.

Helen is also survived by her daughter and son-in law, Kathryn Janssen and George Janssen of Anchorage, Alaska; son, James Pierson, and his companion, Kathy Moreda, of Kalispell; and five stepchildren and their spouses; her seven grandchildren, Laura Metcalf of Salt Lake City, Lawrence William Metcalf and wife, Vickie, of West Valley City, Utah, George Janssen Jr. and wife, Marla, of Stoughton, Wis., Rickert Janssen of Anchorage, James (Pierson) Willing and wife, Tammy, of North Bend, Wash., Robert (Pierson) Willing of Washington, Shane Pierson and wife, Bonnie, of Seeley Lake, and Josh Pierson of Kalispell; and 13 great-grandchildren and stepgreat-grandchildren.

Helen will be laid to rest next to her husband Malcolm in the Haven of Rest Cemetery in Gig Harbor.