Eileen Ruth Arthur

Eileen Ruth (Mrs. James) Arthur, age 78, Clark, died at her home on Tuesday morning, May 1, 2012, peacefully surrounded by her family. Visitation will be held on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 5-8 PM at the Furness Funeral Home in Clark and after 12:30PM at the Church on Sunday. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 2:00PM in the United Methodist Church in Clark with The Reverend Dayne Zachrison officiating. The organist will be Pat Seefeldt with special music by the United Methodist Church Choir, David Warkenthien and Robin Brown. Burial will follow at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Clark. The casketbearers will be her grandsons, Chad, Jason & Daniel Helkenn, James, Jacob, Craig & Christopher Arthur, Joshua Caster and Jim & David Wallace. Her granddaughters, Natalie Helkenn, Emily Richardt, Kelsey & Courtney Arthur and Shauna Caster will be honorary casketbearers. She was born Eileen Ruth Pierson on November 30, 1933 in Clark, SD, the daughter of Erick Gustav and Winifred A. (Wolfe) Pierson. She attended Clark schools graduating from Clark High School in 1951. Shortly after high school she began dating James Arthur who would soon go off to the service and was stationed in the State of Washington. Following high school, she worked for a brief time for Laird Rasmussen, Attorney-at-law, in Clark and then after a phone call marriage proposal, left on a train bound for Seattle, WA. Arriving in Seattle, she met up with Jim and the couple was married on March 29, 1952. While Jim was in the service, she worked at an insurance office in Seattle for one year, then a law office in Tacoma, WA until his discharge. The couple returned to Clark County in 1954 to a farm near Henry. They lived there for three years and then moved to the farm in Day Township, southeast of Clark. Jim and Eileen lived and farmed there until moving into Clark in 1989. Over the years Eileen helped with the potato harvest and also helped with the US Census survey. While most women have a dream of working outside the house, Eileen's dream was different, and as she often said- "All I ever wanted was to be a wife and mother". Eileen accomplished that dream by being a loving wife of Jim, he always came first, and mother to her 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys. Once her family left home and expanded, another generation proved to benefit from her love as well, she often babysat the grandchildren and loved every minute of it. Eileen was a great fan of sports, watching her children and grandchildren at many of their events was a priority to her. Even in her failing health these past few years, Eileen and Jim still found a way to attend the sporting events. She was an avid Minnesota Twins fan and Vikings fan as well. The United Methodist Church of Clark is where Eileen spent many hours as well, whether it was quilting, which was another passion of hers, teaching Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, or being a part of the United Methodist Women and Esther Circle. Eileen also spent many hours with the MYF - Methodist Youth Fellowship, in which she and Jim even entertained them annually with a "Haunted House" at Halloween. In the community she was a member of the Clark Historical Society and the Clark American Legion Auxiliary. One also can't forget her enthusiasm when it came to collecting Depression Glass, especially pink glass. Preceding her in death were her parents, a sister, Mary (Jim) Thorburn and brothers-in-law, Herb Singleton and Dan Larson. Grateful for being part of her life is her husband of over 60 years, James, children, Annette (Gerry) Helkenn, John (Karen) Arthur all of Clark, Joseph (Tawny) Arthur of South Shore and Maureen (Jim) Wallace of Sugar Land, TX; 15 grandchildren, Chad (Bethany), Jason (Nicole), Daniel (Jennifer) & Natalie Helkenn, James (Stephanie) & Jacob (Kelsey) Arthur, Emily (Dan) Richardt, Craig, Christopher, Kelsey & Courtney Arthur, Joshua & Shauna Caster and Jim & David Wallace; 10 great-grandchildren, Jack, Grant, Owen, Matthew, Garrett, Benjamin, & Amelia Helkenn, Brady Richardt and Kayla & Alayna Arthur; siblings, James (Claudia) Pierson of San Antonio, TX, Arlis Larson of Mill Creek, WA, Sigrid Singleton of Livermore, CA, Harlan (Gloria) Pierson of Kennewick, WA, Lois (Wayne) Stoddard of Albany, OR and Karen (Ron) Gettle of La Par, MI, in-laws, Mary Lou (Ed) Hallberg of Clark and Lois Rykus of Sioux Falls, nieces, nephews and host of other relatives and friends. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family. www.furnessfuneralhome.com