Helen Jeanette Bargen

Helen Jeanette (Bartel) Bargen died peacefully in her sleep on Friday, March 21, 2025. She was born on November 26, 1931 to John and Susie (Friesen) Bartel in Hillsboro, Kansas. The youngest of five siblings, she was raised on a wheat farm, and attended the Gnadenau one-room schoolhouse through 8th grade. Helen graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1949, and began Bethel College that fall. Helen then worked as a dental assistant, before marrying Eldon K. Bargen on December 28, 1951 at the Hillsboro First Mennonite Church. 

Raised with Mennonite peace and community values, and urged on by Eldon’s conscientious objector convictions, the couple embarked on a life committed to service — and the adventure that came with it. First they served as recreation leaders for orphaned children in Nevada. Needing a longer term opportunity to comply with C.O. service, they moved to Maryland for three years at Brook Lane Farm Hospital, the first Mennonite mental health institution started by Mennonites as an alternative to the deplorable asylum conditions witnessed by conscientious objectors during WWII. Other volunteers they served with became lifelong friends. 

Helen gave birth to their two children, Jan and Dale. In 1957, the young family returned to central Kansas to enjoy the blessings of extended family. Helen was a faithful wife and mother, employing her creativity and common sense to provide a cozy home while stretching every dollar. Helen loved sharing the joys of her childhood with her children, such as witnessing the old ways of butter churning and sausage making at the home place, and much fun with cousins on family farms. 

In 1961, Helen & Eldon were called to serve at Camp Friedenswald, a Mennonite church camp in southern Michigan. Helen ran the snack shop store, among other staff duties, and encouraged her kids’ growing independence through camp activities. Her friendship circles expanded further as she met Mennonite volunteers and campers from across the Midwest. 

Having applied to serve abroad with Mennonite missions, Helen & Eldon left in Fall 1962 for Cachipay, Colombia to help at a Mennonite boarding school serving young children. Many elementary school students came to Helen for comfort and guidance when lonely for their own parents. The boys were especially grateful for her custom haircuts (no more buzz cuts)! Helen rose to the challenge of navigating a foreign country, with her children in tow – and little command of Spanish. Her kindness to others melted many a stranger’s heart. 

Returning to the U.S. in 1964, they invited a Colombian teenager to come along and join the family for a year. Helen’s genius once again made a warm home in a new place (Wadsworth, Ohio), and somehow stretched Eldon’s teacher salary to support an additional child. Their sacrifice blessed Jan and Dale with a big sister – and the ensuing childhood banter solidified their Spanish speaking skills for life. The entire family’s life was greatly enriched by the service experience in Colombia. 

Once the children were through high school, voluntary service called again in 1975 — this time to the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. While Eldon contributed his design and carpentry skills, Helen became hostess to incoming students needing campus housing. She had a special gift for welcoming foreign students and missionaries home on furlough, helping them set up temporary households. Her role grew to hosting visiting professors and speakers in her home. Helen and Eldon’s network of friends and colleagues in service expanded even wider at this nexus institution. 

In 1982, those contacts led to Helen being recruited as housekeeping supervisor for PrairieView Mental Health Center, another institution created by Mennonites — back home in central Kansas. This was the first time the couple moved for her job! There, she hired and trained the cleaning crew, renovated draperies and furnishings, hosted innumerable receptions — and was gratefully applauded for rescuing neglected office plants! 

This time, making a home meant finally building the house they had been designing for decades, doing the finishing work themselves, with Helen making all the drapes and other decor tasks. Helen welcomed her first grandchild in 1986, with three more following soon – and they became her favorite passion. Her house soon had a playroom to welcome them to Grandma’s, stocked with family heritage toys and games, along with new rag dolls of her own making. Christmas and birthdays brought creations from her sewing machine, including quilted tents to turn cardtables into a ‘house’ and ‘barn.’ Later she made a quilt for each grandchild, tuned to their respective interests, still cherished to this day. Upon retirement in 1993, she spent weeks at a time at their house in Georgia, imparting family traditions to another generation. Baking bread, Mennonite zwiebach and peppernuts were special favorites. 

Upon returning “home to Kansas,” Helen enjoyed recovering lost years with her beloved siblings and many cousins. As she and her oldest sister survived their family, their bond grew still closer. They shared passion for the creative arts – especially the thrill of bargain-hunting fabrics! Helen volunteered regularly at church, and performed many acts of kindness for friends, neighbors and those in need -- often accompanied by bouquets from her flower garden. Living in the ‘Mennonite destination’ community of Bethel College brought the blessing of many visits from faraway friends, enabling cherished friendships to continue from earlier service years.

 A loyal caregiver, Helen saw her husband through his multi-year decline. Afterward, she remained active in her church and community, and traveled with the children — including a return visit to Colombia at age 80 with son Dale. 

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, siblings Elda (Herb) Bartel, Rose (Randy) Thimm, Wanda (Al) Swanson, Johnnie (Myrta) Bartel, DIL Jenny (Guarnieri) Bargen, and one nephew. 

Helen is survived by her children, Jan Bargen (Bob Howell) of Salem OR, and Dale (Paula) Bargen of Buford GA; four grandchildren, Halle Manley, Lea Jordan, Isaac Bargen and Jeron Bargen; great grandchildren Cooper and Cameron Manley — and 15 nieces & nephews and their families. 

Inurnment and Celebration of Life will be at Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton KS, on May 30th at 11:00, with lunch to follow. Memorial gifts may be made to the Kauffman Museum, or the Mennonite Heritage & Agricultural Museum, in care of Bethel College Mennonite Church.