Helen L. Grout

Helen Louise Grout, 100, of Mount Ayr, passed away July 11, 2024, at Clearview Home in Mount Ayr. Visitation will be held from 10-11 a.m., with services beginning at 11 a.m. Monday, July 15, at Wishard Chapel Community Church, Mount Ayr. Burial is in the Tingley Cemetery.

A memorial fund has been established for the Tingley Community Building Fund. Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr is in charge of the arrangements.

Helen was born Dec. 18, 1923, daughter of Percy Bloomfield and Lena Helen (Swanson) Stone in Thayer. Helen graduated from Princeton High School in 1942.

Helen was united in marriage to Donald Irving Grout on Aug. 21, 1949, in Tingley. They settled in the Tingley area where she was an active homemaker and mother. Later, Helen and Donald were RV park hosts for 10 years. In 1981, and over the next 30 years, they began to winter in Texas, both in the Rio Grande Valley and Harlingen.

Helen was a member of the Tingley United Methodist Church and Creston First United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, Tea Club and the Ladies Auxiliary.

Survivors include her children: Patty (Jim) Freeman of Mount Ayr, Glenn (Debb) Grout of Lenox, Mary (Harold) Adams of Mount Pleasant, Ralph (Cindy) Grout of Ankeny and Billie Jo (Curt) Greene of Ellston; 17 grandchildren, 41 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren; in-laws: Ruth Hoy, Ron (Nancy) Grout of Des Moines and Robert Grout of Berwick; other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Donald on March 3, 2021; two sons: Ivan and Lynn Grout; son-in-law, Rodney Stark; brothers: Jim (Imogene) Stone, John Stone and Harold (Carrie) Stone; sister, Alice (Gene) Leeper; in-laws: Doris Grout, Harold (Pearl) Grout, Charles (Joanne) Grout, Dale (Jean) Grout, Marvin (Jan) Grout, Kenneth (LaDonna) Grout and Jon Hoy.