Helen Franklin Braziel
Helen Braziel, 95 of Billings, passed away at her daughter’s home on the afternoon of September 23, 2010. She had been ill for several months with congestive heart failure.
Helen was born in Boone, Iowa on October 30, 1914 to Nick and Mary Stoyanovich. She joined an older sister and brother, Martha and Gerald. The family moved to the coal mining town of Gebo, Wyoming when Helen was very young. She attended schools in Gebo and graduated from the local high school. After graduation she attended Business School in Salt Lake City.
Helen returned to Gebo and married her high school sweetheart, Leonard Franklin in 1935. She and Leonard had two daughters, Helen Jeannette, and Jacqueline Rae. The family lived in various communities in central and northern Wyoming following Leonard’s career with Mountain Bell. Helen worked as a bookkeeper and secretary in most of these communities and retired from the Sheridan County Hospital in the 1970’s. She and Leonard then moved to Fallon, Nevada to be near their daughter, Jeannette.
After Leonard’s death in 1977, Helen reconnected with a childhood friend from Gebo, Wayne Braziel. They married in Nevada in 1980 and split their time between Wayne’s home in Billings and Helen’s in Fallon. In 1989 they returned to Billings full time.
Helen was an avid fly fisherman and spent as much time as possible on the trout streams of Wyoming and Montana with Leonard and Wayne. She also was an active member of Toastmistress and thoroughly enjoyed writing and giving oral presentations. She and Wayne were active in the Mayflower Church in Billings before Wayne’s death in 1999.
Helen was preceded in death by her parents and siblings; both husbands, Leonard and Wayne; her daughter Jacqueline; and her grandson, Scott.
She is survived by her daughter, Jeannette Clodfelter of Billings; her granddaughter Nikola Eckenbeck and great-granddaughter Wyatt Saling both of Seattle; her nephews, Jim Doug Williams of Anchorage and Jim MacDowell of Seattle; and her special step-grandson Greg Smith of Billings.
Cremation has taken place and at her request, no services will be held. The family sends a special thank you to Dr. Amy Fishburn and the staff of Rocky Mountain Hospice, Beth, Erica, Laura, and Laurie.
Remembrances
Please leave your name and remembrance in this public guest book. Your comments will be shared on this page and forwarded to the family.
Jeannette,
So sorry to hear of the passing of Helen,
I am really sorry that I did not keep in touch with her, but do
know I thought of her every time I passed the house on Parkhill.
Ellie Kephart