Helen P. Endicott

Helen P. Endicott, 98, of Viroqua died Friday March 4, 2011 at the Bethel Home in Viroqua. She was born July 4, 1912 in Westby to Ole and Anne (Nordrum) Thompson, both of whose families originated in the Gulbrandsdalen area of Norway. The fifth of five girls, Gunda (Carl) Fegre, Tillie (Stephan) Olson, Hattie (Edwin) Hegenbarth, Rose (Lewis) Running, Helen and brothers Oscar (Josie), Palmer (Gladys) and Jeremiah (Martha) Thompson. Helen was raised in Westby and attended Westby Area Schools. Three other children in the Thompson home died in infancy.

Helens husband Andrew Jackson "Jack" Endicott died in 1955. They had five children Richard (Janice) of Hillsboro, Alan (Betty) of Hartford, Alabama, Donald James "Jimmy (Connie), both deceased, David of Seattle, Washington and Mary Ann of Boone, North Carolina.

Both Helen and Jack loved music. Challenged from birth with a malformed left hand and significant vision impairment, Helen filled the Endicott home for years with her piano music. She was gifted with being able to "play by ear", meaning she could hear a song once and immediately sit down at the piano or organ and play it perfectly. In later years while in the Bethel Home, she taped songs for children and friends and entertained staff and fellow patients. If someone died she would play four hymns in their honor.

Helen kept her sewing machine humming for 25 years as a seamstress, making clothes, drapes and wedding dresses. Her children also learned to love Norwegian cuisine including lefse, sandbuckles, Krumkakke, rosettes, scrolles and Norwegian dumplings and many others.

She is survived by her sons Richard, Alan, David and daughter Mary Ann as well as by grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. All of them appreciated many things about Helen Endicott, and will remember her for her positive outlook on life in spite of significant handicaps that included being blind much of her life.

Helen was a great fan of the Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.

Blessed be her memory.

Funeral services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday March 12, 2011 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Viroqua. Rev. Lindsay Jordan and Rev. Margaret Eiben Hoversten will officiate with burial in the Viroqua Cemetery. Friends may call at the church on Saturday from 11 a.m. until service time. Memorials may be given to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Bethel Home Foundation or the donor's choice.