Helen Marie (Clarke) Janssen, 85, longtime resident of Parsons and rural Erie, died late Sunday evening, June 22, 2025, at the Autumn Place Home Care in Columbus, where she had been cared for about a month.
She was born in Parsons on Aug. 26, 1939, to L.W. “Dub” and Rachael (Jackson) Clarke. She attended Lincoln School, East Junior High and Parsons High School, where she graduated in 1957. In her youth, she became a member of the former Central Avenue Christian Church and was active in Job’s Daughters.
Helen Marie was employed as a secretary at Peabody TecTank for many years and worked at the Walmart store in Parsons for over 20 years, retiring at age 79. She was a member of the First Christian Church in Erie.
On June 21, 1986, she married Don Janssen at the First Christian Church in Parsons. He survives of the home.
She is also survived by sons, Doug Watson of Wichita and Don Watson of Parsons; grandchildren, Drs. David and Clare Watson and their daughter, Nora Kate, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Rachel Watson and her fiancé, Neil Thimmesch, of Roeland Park; stepchildren, Desiree Siens (Dwight) of Claremore, Oklahoma, Bryan Janssen of Pittsburg and Kimberly Mann (Mitchell) of Osage, Iowa; 10 stepgrandchildren; and five step-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, L.W. and Rachael Clarke; a sister, Elizabeth Thomas; and an infant brother, Ralph Clarke.
The service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the First Christian Church in Erie, with burial to follow at Lakeview Cemetery south of Erie. The family will receive friends at the church from noon until the service time on Saturday.
The family suggests memorials to the First Christian Church of Erie. They may be left at or sent to the Carson-Wall Funeral Home, P.O. Box 942, Parsons, KS, 67357.
The Carson-Wall Funeral Home of Parsons is in charge of arrangements. Leave online messages at www.wallfuneralservices. com.
