Helen Louise McElhattan
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Helen Louise McElhattan age 81, of Marion, formerly of Tamaroa, passed away on Friday evening, at 9:20 p.m., March 6, 2009 at her home in Marion.
Helen was born on October 4, 1927, a daughter to Ira and Mary (Brown) Weisel. Helen accepted Christ when she was 13 and was baptized in a lake near Oak Grove Baptist Church, Pinckneyville. She was a graduate of Pinckneyville Community High School in 1944. She married Earl Broyles in Du Quoin, and to this union, she had two children. She then married Bernard Paul McElhatten and both preceded her in death. Then Helen married Dean Klingenberg and he survives.
The family moved to Artesia, N.M. in November 1953 and Helen started working for the Federal Government in 1954. She first worked for the Soil Conservation Service, then the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1965, she transferred to the Internal Revenue Service in Dallas, Texas, then to Tulsa, Okla., and then to San Francisco, Calif. Helen then moved to Edwards Air Force Base where she worked for a year, then back to Dallas, Texas, where she worked again for the I.R.S. She then moved to Roswell, N.M., where she worked for U.S. Geological Survey, then to Los Angeles with the I.R.S. In 1976, she moved to St. Louis where she worked for the Department of the Army until her retirement in June 1990. When the family moved to Artesia, N.M., they attended the Methodist Church and she has been a member of the Methodist Church ever since, her last membership was in Richardson, Texas.
She is survived by her husband, one son: Bruce Broyles of Plano, Texas, one daughter: Pam Dilts of Eveleth, Minn., one step-son: Paul Klingenberg of San Diego, Calif., one daughter-in-law: Earnestine Broyles of Lakeway, Texas, one step- son-in-law: Tony Stratton of San Diego, Calif., one brother: James (Mabel) Weisel of Tamaroa, one brother-in-law: Kenneth Hutchings of Pinckneyville, four grandchildren: Van, Amy, Wade and Lacy, six great-grandchildren: Holly, Rage, Vanessa, Alexis, Kelsey and Blaine, five step-great-grandchildren: Tommy, Marissa, Katie, Darian and Dylan
Helen was preceded in death by her parents, two husbands: Earl Broyles and Bernard Paul McElhattan, three sisters: Lelia Hutchings, Mildred Emling and Alma Schulze, one granddaughter: Stephanie Broyles and one brother-in-law; Carl Emling.
Funeral services will be at the Pyatt Funeral Home, Pinckneyville, Monday morning, March 9, 2009 at 11 a.m. with Brother Tim Bauersachs officiating. Interment will be in the Mueller Hill Cemetery, Pinckneyville.
Friends may call at Pyatt Funeral Home, Pinckneyville, on Monday morning from 9 a.m. until services.
Memorials donations may be made to American Cancer Society.
For more information or to sign an online guest register please visit www.pyattfuneralhome.com.