CARBONDALE, Kan. – Hellen E. Starkebaum, 92, of Carbondale, Kan., passed away April 18, 2019, at her home. She was born Nov. 11, 1926, in Dover, Okla., one of nine children of Charles Tucker Beckmon and Anna Marie Chriestenson Beckmon.
She grew up in Kingfisher County, Okla., before moving to Kansas with her family as a teenager.
On Nov. 14, 1943, she married Arthur Harold Starkebaum, in Yates Center, Kan. From this marriage came nine children. Through their lives, Harold and Hellen lived in Georgia for a few years, and Colony, LeRoy, Vernon and Carbondale, Kan.
Hellen loved her family. She also loved cooking and cleaning sewing and she loved to have time to do some canning. Hellen also loved to travel. She loved her vacations to Colorado and Idaho. She also enjoyed the South and going to Georgia and Alabama. She enjoyed the Northeast also, especially Niagara Falls and Maine.
She worked several jobs during her life. The most memorable was at the Squat and Gobble Restaurant, in Topeka, where she was the cook. She also worked at Stormont-Vail in the nursery taking care of newborns. Hellen did daycare for many years, before going to work for Brookside Manor, Overbrook, Kan., as a certified nursing assistant on the night shift for many years. She later went back to running her daycare.
She is survived by eight children, Charles (Connie), of Carbondale, Harold Jr., Lonestar, Kan., Sharon Lockwood, Vicksburg, Mich., Karen McCormick, Lawrence, Kan., Jerry (Faye), Lake Charles, La., Kathy (Cecil) Prescott, Burlingame, Kan., LaDonna (Larry) Wilson, Baldwin City, Kan., Darren (Candy), Corpus Christi, Texas; many grandchildren, great grandchildren and a few great-great grandchildren; and lots of nieces and nephews.
Hellen is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Arthur Harold Starkebaum; seven brothers, Alvin, Alfred, Bill, Melvin, Cecil, Charlie, Ralph; sister, Florence; a son, Larry Wayne; and two sons-in-law, Keith Lockwood and Elbert (Mac) McCormick.
Funeral services were April 22, at the Carbondale Church of Christian Fellowship. Interment was in Carbondale Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Midland Hospice or Carbondale Church of Christian Fellowship, and sent in care of the Lamb-Roberts Funeral Home, PO Box 268, Overbrook, KS 66524.
