Joyce Helkenn, 91, of Clark, passed away on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at The Village of Harmony Hill in Watertown, S.D. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at the Clark United Methodist Church at 11:00 a.m. A meal and time of fellowship will immediately follow the service in the church fellowship hall. Interment will then take place at Rose Hill Cemetery in Clark. Visitation will be held the evening prior, Friday, October 2, 2026 at Furness Funeral Home from 4:00 until 6:00 p.m. Furness Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.
Joyce Marie Schurrer was born in Clark to Leo and Viola Schurrer. She joined a sister, Lorrayne, and a brother, Robert, and lived on a farm in Logan Township south of Raymond. She graduated from Logan Consolidated School in 1953, and on September 13, 1953, married her school sweetheart of five years, Norman Dean Helkenn.
They lived their first winter in Fargo, where Norman was enrolled in trade school. While there, she waitressed to help make ends meet. Upon returning to South Dakota, they lived a few years on the Helkenn family farm south of Raymond. Later, after moving to Clark, she took a job with the Clark County extension office and worked there until 1964, when she began working for the Clark Nursing Home for Dr. Abner Willen. She later served as office, secretary before becoming nursing administrator in 1971, a position she held until her retirement in 2007.
Joyce was an active member of the South Dakota Health Care Association, assuming the role of president several times. After retirement, she helped at other nursing facilities and was an active member of the Clark Area Community Foundation, the Clark County Historical Society, the Lioness Club, various church committees, bridge clubs, and numerous professional organizations. Professionally, she was named Jaycee Boss of the Year in 1977 and the South Dakota Healthcare Administrator of the Year in 2001.
Happy to have shared her life are her two sons, David Dean Helkenn of Watertown and Douglas Leo (Steve Dosch) Helkenn of Sioux Falls, her sister Lorrayne Logan of Clark, sister-in-law Dorothy Schurer of Watertown, brother-in-law Dale Helkenn of Clark, sister-in-law Carolyn Helkenn of Clark, sister-in-law Betty Helkenn of Sundance, Wyoming, and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman; parents; brother; and several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
