Helen Schreiman Heidbrink was born on a farm near Waverly, MO. She joined her parents George and Clara Mueller Willer and one sibling, Margaret. They were members of the country church, Immanuel Lutheran in the Hazel Hill area. Her uncle, Pastor Fred Worthman, from Zion Lutheran Church in Corder, MO, came out to the farm to baptize her. Helen’s baptismal sponsor was her aunt, Anna Mueller. At two months old, Helen became very ill with a skin infection. Penicillin had not been discovered, and she almost died. Helen started school at the age of five and was so little and scared that Pastor/Teacher Duensing held her on his lap to keep her from crying. School was held in the country church. One year the snow was so deep, many of the children stayed overnight in the parsonage with the Pastor’s family to be ready for school the next day. Helen and Margaret sometimes rode a horse to school. Helen was confirmed on April 2, 1939. She attended Waverly High School, and then St. John’s Academy in Winfield, KS, and Valparaiso University in Indiana. Earlier the Willers had planted a 10 acre orchard on their farm specifically to send their girls to Lutheran college.
During World War II, Helen did office work in Kansas City at the Board of Trade and Skelly Oil. In 1947 she married Ben Schreiman, a farmer from south of Waverly. They wed at the same Hazel Hill Church where she had gone to school. They farmed on his family’s farm just above Salt Fork Creek for six years where their daughter Judy, was born. Eventually they bought Kappleman & Willer Orchard from Helen’s uncles, half-brother, Ed Kappleman & Herman Willer (later known as Schreiman’s Orchard). They raised apples and peaches for nearly 30 years. Helen did the book keeping and “sold apples and peaches by the side of the road.”
Ben and Helen were married 39 years. Several years after Ben’s death, she married Louis Heidbrink, an Odessa farmer recently widowed and a cousin of Ben’s. Louis and Helen had nearly 20 years together, retired in Concordia, then Higginsville.
Helen had been at Good Shepherd Care Community for nine years. At 99, Helen is the last of her generation of all her extended family, outliving her sister, Margaret Shane (Fred), Ben’s brothers: Argyll Schreiman (Roberta) and Harry Schreiman (Estherline); and Louis’ brother-in-law, David Anderson (Rosalia).
Helen is survived by her daughter, Judy Marshall; her Shane, Schreiman and Anderson nieces and nephews, and their extended families. She is also preceded in death by son-in-law, Jim Marshall in 2023.
Helen was a quiet person who always wanted to remain in the background of every situation. She wished her funeral to be about Jesus and her saving faith in Him.
The family of Helen is grateful for the kindness of the caregivers at Good Shepherd Care Community, her church family and friends, Pastor Mark Junkin at Immanuel Lutheran Church, and Harrington Healthcare who all cared for Helen these last years.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Waverly, MO, with Pastor Mark Junkin officiating. No visitation will be held. Burial will follow in Val Halla Cemetery in Waverly. Memorials are suggested to Immanuel Lutheran Church at P.O. Box 62, Waverly, MO 64096. An online guestbook is available at www.campbell-lewis.com