HELEN MARIE JONES DELMENHORST
Helen Marie Jones Delmenhorst, 96, went to meet Our Lord on February 26, 2020, after a long and fulfilling life. She spent the past two and a half years in memory care at The Renaissance of Stillwater in Stillwater, OK.
Born at home in Tonkawa, OK, on April 15, 1923, she grew up attending Fountain Grade School, and Tonkawa High School; after which, Helen graduated from Northern Oklahoma Junior College and moved to Dallas, TX, where she worked in banking and met John Delmenhorst. She and John were married in 1947, and in 1948, they moved to Kansas City, MO, where they operated a freight rate auditing business.
They moved to Chicago briefly before moving to the Washington, DC area where Helen became a typist in the White House Typing Pool in the early 1970’s. She later advanced to become a secretary to one of the presidential aides in the Nixon-Ford administrations. After retirement from her position at the White House, they moved to Laurel, DE. John died in 1997, and Helen moved back to Tonkawa to be closer to her sisters Dorothy and Leona (both now deceased).
Helen enjoyed teaching the Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) for the Catholic Church and played the organ often at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Tonkawa, where she was an active member. She was also an active member in the Delphi Study Club; her mother Mary Alice was one of the original founders. Helen was also a member of the Tonkawa Historical Society and served as secretary. She loved history and did much research on the family genealogy during her retirement. She loved to visit her brother, Robert E. Jones and his wife, Jean Ann (Walker), who is now deceased, and his family in Kansas City.
Helen and John had no children. She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Alice (Doran) Jones, her father, William Paul Jones, her brother William Paul Jones, Jr., and sisters Dorothy Ruth Jones, Leona Grace (Jones) Sharp and her nephew, Robert E. Jones, Jr. In addition to her brother Robert E. “Gene” Jones, she leaves her nieces Karen (Jones) Mills and her husband, Mike, of Olathe, KS, and Mary (Jones) Thompson and her husband, Joe, Overland Park, KS, two great-nieces and a great-nephew.
A Rosary Ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at the St. Joseph Catholic Church, followed by a Memorial Service at 1 p.m. Interment will be at the Tonkawa Cemetery following the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Tonkawa Historical Society 220 E. Grand Ave, Tonkawa, Oklahoma or St. Joseph Catholic Church 320 W. North Ave. Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory.