Helen J. Knapp

Helen Jean Knapp, 93, passed away on Sunday, June 18, 2017, at Bethany Home is Minden, NE. Memorial service will be 11:00 AM Thursday, June 22, 2017, at Messiah Lutheran Church in Grand Island with Pastor Bill Schroeder officiating. Burial will be prior to the service at 10:00 AM at Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 5-7 PM on Wednesday at Apfel Funeral Home. Memorials are suggested to: Peace Lutheran Cemetery Assoc., Belgrade, NE, Messiah Lutheran Church, Grand Island, Bethany Lutheran Church, Minden, NE, or Bethany Home, Minden, NE.

Helen was born on January 10, 1924, to Vernon and Margaret (Schmitt) Eychner in Alma, NE. She spent her childhood in Grand Island, NE, graduating from Grand IslandSenior High School in 1942. She graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing, and worked as a nurse her entire adult life. During WWII, Helen was in the Cadet Nurse Corps, stationed in Washington, D.C.



She married Lyle Knapp in 1947, and they lived and farmed in the North Star, Palmer, and Fullerton area in Nebraska, and Julesburg and Longmont in Colorado. They moved to Grand Island in 1976. Helen served as Director of Nursing at Fullerton Memorial Hospital, and in the cardiac intensive care unit of the Nebraska Veterans Hospital in Grand Island, as well as working in hospitals in other towns where they lived. Lyle passed away in 2006. Helen moved to Minden in 2010, and became a resident of Bethany Home there in 2012.

Helen was a compassionate and hard working nurse, an accomplished musician, and a great friend. She will be remembered for her wit and willingness to lend a helping hand.

Left to mourn her passing include her children: Howard (Pat) Knapp of North Platte, Margaret (Bill) Scheideler of Lincoln, Mary Jo (LaMoine) Smith of Minden; nine grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; brother: George (Judy) Eychner of Kerrville, TX; sisters and brothers-in-law: Betty DArcy of Orange, CA, Georgia (Bob) Petersen of St. Paul, NE, Shirley (Carl) Knapp of Clayton, NC.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister: Mary (Bob) Deutschman, sisters and brothers-in-law: Augie (Evelyn) Evers, John DArcy, and Laura (Jim) Short.