Helen E. Quinlan

Helen E. Quinlan, 100, of Seneca, Kansas, died Tuesday, December 5, 2000, at Country View Estates Care Home in Seneca. She had been a resident there since 1998.
     She was born October 28, 1900, southeast of Fidelity, Kansas, the daughter of Michael and Anna Casey Banks. Helen attended a country school and graduated from Sabetha High School. She taught in local schools until her marriage.
     On May 11, 1921, she married Michael B. Quinlan at St. Augustine's Church at Fidelity. They lived south of Seneca for three years, in Dawson, Nebraska for three years, and on the Quinlan farm southwest of Seneca. They moved into Seneca in 1945. She worked with her husband in the Quinlan Ford Agency from 1953 until they sold it to their son, Bernard. Helen and her husband started a juke box business in the early days of their marriage and later started a vending machine business. Her husband, Michael, died July 24, 1966. She sold the vending machine business to their son, Wilfred and his wife, Norma, in August of 1966. She celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends on October 28, 2000.
     She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, the St. Ann's Altar Society at the church, the Loyal Christian Benevolent Association, the Earle W. Taylor Post #21 of the American Legion Auxiliary, and the Seneca Memorial Post #7458 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, the Better Homes Extension Club, and the Thursday Afternoon Pitch Club.
     Survivors are two sons, Bernard Quinlan of Leavenworth, Kansas, and Wilfred Quinlan of Seneca; two daughters Marguerite Strathman of Seneca and Anna Mae Ice of Centralia, Kansas; 22 grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; 11 great great grandchildren.
     Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by an infant son; a daughter, Esther Feldkamp on February 13, 1985; and three grandsons, infants Ralph Quinlan and Joseph Feldkamp and Daniel Schmits on May 4, 1970.
     The mass of Christian burial will be 1:30 P.M. Saturday at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. The burial will be in the church cemetery. The rosary will be prayed at 3 P.M. Friday and a vigil prayer service will be at 8 P.M. Friday at the Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. She will lie in state at the funeral home after 4 P.M. Thursday.
     Memorials may be given for Sts. Peter & Paul School and sent in care of the family.