Mary Helen James

Mary Helen James, age 107, of Mt. Carroll, Illinois died on Friday, October 29, 2010 at the Carroll County Good Samaritan Nursing Center, Mount Carroll. Funeral Services will be held 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at the Mount Carroll Church of God with Reverend George Reser officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery, Mt. Carroll. Visitation will be held from 10:00–11:00 a.m. Wednesday, prior to the service at the Church. Helen was born October 2, 1903 the daughter of Melvin H. and Elizabeth (Fitzpatrick) Logue in Savanna, Illinois. At the tender age of seven, Helen lost her mother, Elizabeth, she and her siblings were raised with love and guidance by their grandmother, Martha Fitzpatrick. Helen attended a country school in Carroll County and grew up on grandmother’s farm near Mount Carroll. Her childhood was short, at age, fourteen, Helen left grandmother’s home and went to work. She did housekeeping and child-care for family. On December 22, 1921, Helen married Vyvyan W. James and set up her own household at eighteen years of age. Vyvyan died December 26, 1988 at the age of ninety-three. Helen and her husband farmed for many years in the Savanna area. Helen was also a homemaker, raising two children, Richard and Nadine. They both precede her in death. She never learned to drive, but, could always remember that Vyvyan favored Chevrolet automobiles.
Helen has been noted as an inspiration to family and friends. She not only assisted in child rearing, she also helped in the birth of a member or two. She was the “glue” that held the family together. They loved her fried chicken and home made bread, she kept them well fed.
Family members will always have the memories of her wonderful stories and kind acts of love for them all, her great pride in being “Irish”, she celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day with a family meal fit for any Irish Clan.
She was a member of Mt. Carroll Church of God and a charter member of the Community Church of Freeport, Illinois.
Helen will be dearly missed by eight grandchildren, Rick James of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Joni (Jule) Dauphin of Mt. Carroll, Julie (Steve) Myers of Norman, Oklahoma, Dinna (Andrew) Barker of Freeport, Jon (Tara) James of Princeton, Iowa, Larry (Sandy) Dinderman of Hamilton, Montana, Mike (Gianna) Dinderman of Kent, IL and Mari Ann (Dale) Runkle of Davis, IL; twenty-three great grandchildren; and thirty great-great grandchildren.
Helen is preceded in death by her husband, Vyvyan, both parents; a son, Richard James; a daughter, Betty Dinderman; one brother, three sisters; daughter-in-law, Dianne James and son-in-law, Howard Dinderman.