Helen Jean Dewald

Helen Jean Dewald, 84, of Zelienople passed away Wednesday at UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless Township.

Born Feb. 1, 1933, in her parents' farmhouse along Franklin Road, she was the daughter of the late Gilmer Hugh Goehring and Alice Olive Dater Goehring.

Helen attended church and Sunday school every week with her family and was president of the Lutheran League. She attended the one-room Sample School for eight grades and graduated from Mars High School.

Helen entered the workforce by taking a full-time job at Citizens National Bank in Evans City. She also worked at Mellon Bank and Halstead Industries.

Helen studied music and became an organist at her home church, St. John's Lutheran Church on Freedom Road. She held membership in Music Club, B.P.W. and the Junior Women's Club.

After leaving full-time employment, Helen volunteered for 20 years at St. John Specialty Care Center in Mars.

She lived on the last three acres of her parent's 180 acre farm in Cranberry Township. During that time, she began interviewing farm families to preserve the history of Cranberry Township before it was lost to a growing population.

Helen wrote five books, which included more than 100 families, and collected two large volumes of photographs. She was a charter member of the Cranberry Township Historical Society and a member of the Senior Citizens Club.

In 2011, she and her late husband, Raymond, moved into the Passavant Retirement Community in Zelienople.

She enjoyed yard work, reading, gardening and photography in her spare time.

She leaves behind to cherish her memory her sister-in-law, Mae Poser of Ross Township; and her nephew, Harold Allman, and his wife, Lois, of New Brighton.

In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Raymond Nicholas Dewald, who died Nov. 22, 2016; and her sister, Dorothy M. Allman, who died in 1992.

DEWALD — The family will welcome friends of Helen Jean Dewald, who died Wednesday, May 17, 2017, from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Boylan-Glenn-Kildoo Funeral Home, 130 Wisconsin Ave., Cranberry Township.A funeral ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the funeral home. She will be laid to rest at the Pinewood Memorial Gardens.Expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.boylanfuneralservices.com.