Helen Louise Lebeck Peck
A Celebration of Life
Helen Louise Lebeck Peck passed to the hands of our Lord Friday morning May 11, 2012 looking forward to life. Helen was born November 22, 1923 in Harvel, Illinois. She graduated from Harvel High School and attended what is now known as Eastern Illinois University for two years as a biology student and then St. John's Hospital School of Nursing Education in Springfield, Illinois.
As with many of her generation, this life was interrupted by the needs of WWII. She married Eugene Lloyd Peck as he was being shipped to another location as a navigator/bombardier for the US Army Air Force.
She was a military wife, an engineer's wife, a farmer's wife, a volunteer wife, and a caretaker wife who lived in many parts of Illinois before settling in Rochelle for more than 50 years. Helen was a mother of five children and for many others across time. A loving, encouraging, accepting, giving, educating, counseling, listening, caring person, always a constant of equilibrium in a dynamic family of husband, children, and extended family was her life. She was a proponent of excellence, but not at the cost of humanity or loss of belief in the Lord. She believed and practiced a life of giving, encouragement, hope, and positive thinking.
Helen was a Cub Scout den mother, Scout mother, a Bluebird and Campfire mother, a Lincoln school class room volunteer, and a church volunteer. She was a gardener of flowers, vegetables, and fruit; always growing more than enough to use, can, preserve, and give away. She was a collector of angels for the hope they represent, of owls for their wisdom, and blown glass paper weights for the beauty of the art.
Even though her formal education ended before she wanted, Helen was an avid reader of newspapers (more than one a day), magazines, and books. Her belief in knowledge and education propelled her children to all graduate from college with degrees ranging from AS, BS, MS, and PhDs.
While her home was humble, all were welcome. The husbands and wives of her children were like her sons and daughters. All children whether natural or adopted were her grandchildren. She saw the inner core of a person as their beauty, regardless of what they were on the outside. In the last months of her life while living with one of her sons and family in Michigan (before moving to Rhode Island), she had already made friends. In the last days in the hospital, the nurses and doctors became friends.
As the family spread to various places across the country, she remained the constant center of encouragement and communication, the clearing house of hopes, dreams, and news of the comings and goings of life.
While Helen will be missed, she will be a beacon to hope, encouragement, and moving forward to be with the Lord. She lived and embodied these positive attributes to the very last seconds of her life.
Besides her parents, John and Louise Lebeck, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Howard, Melvin, and Ray. She is survived by her husband Eugene (Gene) of 68 years in marriage and currently in Leslie, MI; her sons Don (wife Eileen) of Raleigh, NC; Ken (wife Naramon) of Raytown MO; Jan (wife Colleen) of Leslie, MI; and daughters Kay (husband David) of Tucson, AZ; and Joy (husband Mark) of Bradford, RI.; her sister Mary Fix of Harvel, IL, 9 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
The Peck family will receive relatives and friends from 2:00 to 5:00 PM, Saturday May 19, 2012 at the Unger-Horner Funeral Home, Rochelle, Illinois. A Celebration of Life service will be held at the Rochelle United Methodist Church, 4:00 PM Sunday, May 20, 2012 with family to receive following.
Those wishing to honor her memory may do so by making a contribution to the Rochelle United Methodist Church, Hub City Senior Center, Focus House, or Serenity Hospice and Home (formerly Ogle County Hospice Association).