Helen Schmainda

Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, May 2, 2015 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, St. Anna for Helen Schmainda, 98 who died Friday, April 24, 2015 at the Cherrywood Advanced Living, Richmond. Rev. Al Stangl will officiate and an interment will be in the parish cemetery. Friends and relatives may call from 9 to 11 AM prior to the service at the church in St. Anna. Arrangements are being handled by the Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Home of St. Cloud.
Helen was born New York City, New York. Some time in her first year or two of life she was left at the Foundling Home in Brooklyn. At age 2 she was taken by the orphan Train to Avon, MN. There she was greeted by her new parents, Stanley and Anna (Hennek) Dobis. Helen and her brother Irvin, adopted at the same time and at the same age, were lovingly reared and cared for by their new parents in the apartment connected to the General Store in St. Anna. Helen was to spend the rest of her working days in that same store and apartment.
Helen married Stanley Schmainda in the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, St. Anna in 1938. Together they ran the general store and Pelican Lake Ballroom for over 35 years while raising their four children. It was here, in the store, that Helen came alive. One of her greatest joys was to visit with people who came into the store. Helen and Stanley retired from the store in 1973. She was a lifelong member of Immaculate Conception Church, St. Anna.
Helen is survived by her sons and daughter, Robert and his wife Elizabeth of St. Cloud, William and his wife Geralyn of St. Anna, Ronald and his wife Patricia of St. Anna, and Sharon Hron and her husband Thomas of Fountain Hills, AZ; sister-in-law Elinor Dobis of Michigan; grandchildren Christopher, Stephanie Kerr and her husband Mark, Kelly and Aric; great grandchildren Brandon, Nathan, Jacob and Sydney; also her step-grandchildren and step-great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Stanley on August 29, 1978 and her brother Irvin, in 2010.