Helen Heil

Helen Heil, devoted wife to the late Marvin M. Heil, died December 14, 2023, at Cedar Creek Manor in Wausau, WI.  She was 91.

Helen, the daughter of Paul Szemborski and Lucy (Klawinski) Szemborski, was born in Marathon, WI on May 4th, 1932.  Her parents were farmers.  During the depression for a few years, her family lived with her grandparents because they lost their family farm.

Helen attended elementary school in a one room schoolhouse.  Helen and her brothers did not have to walk miles to school.  Their neighbor had a model “T”car and they got a ride from them.  At lunch, the whole school would play baseball, which she loved.  School plays and programs would include all the students.  To make a stage, they would hang a sheet on a rope across the room so there was an area for the audience. For eighth grade, Helen lived with her aunt in town so she could attend the Catholic school to make her solemn Communion. That was the end of her formal education.

The Szemborski and the Heil families knew each other well and produced two marriages: Leo Szemborski married Grace Heil.  Marvin Heil married Helen Szemborski. Marvin and Helen had two girls, Mary Jane and Doris while living in the Marathon area.  During that period, Helen lost her younger brother, Eddie to a car accident.

Although farming was in their blood, they decided to move to Milwaukee where Marvin worked for Babcock and Wilcock as a foreman making pipes of various sizes. Helen became a housewife and mother to their children. Helen and Marvin had six more children, Shirley, Alan, Wayne, Gail, Brian, and Cindy.  Helen’s brother Harry moved to Milwaukee.  Also, her brother, Leo and Marvin’s sister Grace moved to Milwaukee.  Parties at houses and picnics in the park on Sunday became filled with relatives. Summers were spent up north on grandparents’ farms and all the rest of the Heil/Szemborski clan.

Soon children, nieces, and nephews started getting married.  Some weddings required the family to be in northern Wisconsin and some in southern Wisconsin.  All the weddings were large and filled with relatives. In 1967, the family moved to Hales Corners from the south side of Milwaukee. It was the year of the Civil Rights riots, and it delayed the move. In the spring of 1968, Mary Jane married Glenn a few days after returning from the Vietnam War. For the next few years, Marvin had to pay for a few more weddings.  Doris and Mike were married next.  Then Shirley graduated from UWM with a degree in teaching.  Shirley and Kevin were married in 1974.  Gail married Bob Marcell a few years later.  Alan soon followed with his marriage to Jan.   Brian married Tina (they divorced) he then married Diana and Cindy, the youngest, married Drew.

As the children of Helen and Marvin married, the grandchildren began appearing.  Over the years, nineteen grandchildren filled the house.  Sundays and holidays were filled with children and grandchildren.  Gail and Bob lived in northern Wisconsin.  Shirley and Kevin moved to Maryland in 1987 but the whole family tried to keep the holidays.

As the children grew up, Marvin and Helen began traveling with their brothers and sisters all over the world. Some of the countries that they visited were Spain, Germany, Morocco. They visited Hawaii and Alaska and many states. In between trips, Helen planted and cared for her flowers while Marvin took care of the vegetable gardens and apple orchard.

When it became too difficult to take care of the house, Gail, their daughter and Bob, her husband took them into their house in northern Wisconsin in 2009.  There Helen was able to play with her great grandchildren, Gail and Bob’s grandchildren.  In 2012, Mary Jane, her oldest child and Marvin passed away within nine months of each other. Then in 2017, Bob, Gail’s husband passed away.  Helen also had two grandchildren predeceased her, Kevin (son of Mary Jane) and Bobby (son of Gail Marcell). Helen lived at Cedar Creek Manor which is a memory care place for the last year and a half.  They did a wonderful job caring for her.

Helen is survived by children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. There will be a viewing and prayer service on December 22, at Peterson Kramer Funeral Home in Marathon, WI.

Visitation will be Friday, December 22, 2023 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Peterson/Kraemer Funeral Home, Marathon, where there will be a 7:00 p.m. rosary service. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11:30 a.m. Thursday, December 28, 2023 at St. Mary Catholic Church, 9520 W. Forest Home Avenue, Hales Corners, Wisconsin. The Rev. Aaron Laskiewicz will preside. Entombment will be in St. Adalbert Cemetery, Milwaukee. Visitation will be Thursday from 10:00 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. all at the church.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.petersonkraemer.com