Helen Benesh

Helen Louise Chaney was born on September 6, 1919 to Frank & Lydia Chaney of Fargo. She was the youngest of eight children. Interestingly, her birth certificate originally listed her name as Marguerite. It was crossed out, and replaced with the name Helen. She died on Thursday, September 29, 2011 in Fargo. She lived in Fargo most of her life, where she was a successful clothing salesperson for many years. Helen was married & widowed four times...to Louis Holven, Earl Torgerson, Maurie Gillerstein, and Arnold Benesh. She was also preceded in death by all of her siblings and both parents. She is survived by one niece, Susan LaRue and her two children, Matt and Brenda. She was associated with the Fargo South Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. She had been aware of Bible teachings for most of her life, but it was in the last few years of her life that she really began to study and apply Bible principles. She developed a deep love for Jehovah, his Word the Bible, and for her spiritual family. She loved attending the meetings at the Kingdom Hall, even when it was difficult for her to do so. It became very important to her to participate in preaching the good news of the kingdom. Until 18 months ago when her hip was broken, she was out in the ministry nearly every week. It gave her great joy to give financial support to this vital preaching work. To that end, she generously donated toward expenses for the traveling overseers, the pioneers, and others in the congregation so they could get to their annual conventions. In addition, she helped with the expenses, building or remodeling of 15 Kingdom Halls. Many can testify to her generosity in different areas. Other than Jehovah, her next greatest love has always been animals. She worked with the FM Humane Society Board of Directors, gave financial support to the Humane Society and other animal relief organizations and helped build the wolf exhibit at the Red River Valley Zoo. Memorial Service: Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 3:00 PM, at Kingdom Hall, Fargo, ND.