Estella Hehn

Sharon, Faith, Terrica, Lane, Bradley, and the rest of the family. My deepest sympathy to you all. Estella loved you all so much. She was such a special lady. So kind to everyone she ever meet. Love all

A candle was lit in memory of Estella Hehn

Our beloved GG was fiercely independent, incredibly strong and determined in the life that she lived. <br /> I gave her the nickname GG when the great grandchildren started arriving, and I remember sitting with her at her table and going over what we should call her, for fun, and when I said GG, she said to me \"I like that,\" and so, that\'s what I called her from then on. <br /> GG wasn\'t my biological grandma, but she and grandpa were the only grandparents I ever really had, and GG never made any of us feel as if we weren\'t part of her family. <br /> As a child, I lived with grandma and grandpa. GG and I would sometimes get up early in the morning in the summer to go pick peas and green beans, with grandpa as our chauffer, and I remember eating just as many as I picked. <br /> She worked as an aide part time at the Gackle Care Center and sometimes I would go with her to work, and I was always fascinated at how she interacted with the residents, always so patient and kind, yet firm when she needed to be. Even though she was older than some of the resident\'s that lived there, she worked hard and never stopped from the moment she got there, and I always admired her for that. Grandpa usually drove her to and from work, but one day, he wasn\'t feeling up to it, so she grabbed the keys to that old Chevelle, and off we went into town. I had no idea grandma even knew how to drive, much less have a driver\'s license, but she drove that beast of a car like a pro and with a lead foot the whole way into town. <br /> GG loved to visit Branson Missouri, and it was one of her and grandpa\'s favorite places to go. They often visited family in Nebraska as well, and when her sister Violet became ill, she didn\'t hesitate for one second to go to Nebraska to help care for her ailing sister in her final days. <br /> After grandpa passed away, many of us thought she would soon follow, but we underestimated her strength and determination. Her and I had a conversation, after she had fallen and broken a hip, about dying, and she said \"I\'m not ready to die. I still have some living to do.\" And she did just that. Despite several heart attacks, living with leukemia, broken hips, and diabetes, her strength and her faith carried her on. <br /> GG and grandpa would watch my 2 oldest children, Terrica and Lane, when they were infants/toddlers, and during this time, GG developed a close bond to her \"Laney.\" Every summer, up until the last couple of years, on the 4th of July, I would come pick her up and bring her to the races here in Jamestown so that she could watch her Laney race. It was the only day she would come because the races generally fell on the Sabbath, but if the 4th was on any other day, you could guarantee that you would find her sitting on the front row of those bleachers, as excited as a little kid, to watch her grandson race and cheer him on! She was also very happy to learn at Christmas, that he and his fiance, Cassie, are expecting a little one of their own this summer, and she told me, just a few weeks ago, that Lane was going to be a great daddy!<br /> Instrumental band music was also a favorite of GG\'s, and she would come to the band concerts of Terrica and Lane, and it was so much fun watching the happiness on her face as she listened to them play, tapping and clapping along with the music, with pure joy evident across her beautiful face. <br /> Bradley, being the avid fisherman he is, would bring her fresh caught fish, Walleye was her favorite, and for some reason, she enjoyed cleaning the fish. We would sit outside her garage and help her clean them and visit with her, about any and everything. She loved to fish herself too, and she always sang a song while we fished that went \"fishy fishy won\'t you come bite my little hook.\" Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn\'t, but it never stopped her from being determined to catch a fish!<br /> When Rylin, my youngest, was born, Pops (Vic) was dying from cancer. I can\'t imagine how hard it must have been for her to watch her only child, her \"Vicky,\" slowly fade from us, but she was there every day, helping to care for him in his final days. Rylin was born just 11 days before he passed, and I knew from the moment I found out he was a boy, his name was going to be Rylin Ezra, after pops, and grandpa. When we brought Rylin to meet pops for the first time, we placed him in his arms, and introduced him to his grandson, Rylin Ezra, and both he and grandma cried, and I knew then we had given him the name he was meant to have. <br /> Sharon, my mother, pop\'s widow, and GG\'s beloved daughter-in-law, was very close. They spoke every day on the phone, rain or shine. If Ernie wasn\'t able to take GG to an appointment, mom was always there without fail. Mom never let GG down, and I know that GG had an immense love and gratitude for the relationship they had. GG knew she could always count on her and their bond was unbreakable.<br /> When pop\'s was still driving a semi truck, he would occasionally bring GG and grandpa along if it was going to be a short trip, and GG absolutely adored their trips on the truck. She loved seeing the country and spending that time with her son and husband. <br /> I could write a book on all the wonderful things about GG, but most of you already know what a wonderful person she was. She was selfless. She was <br /> strong. She was unwavering in her faith. <br /> And she will be missed more than words could ever say. Now she can rest, next to her son and her husband, the circle complete. <br /> Even though we are not listed above as her family, I can tell you that we are very much her family, and that we loved her, and that there will not be a day that goes by that we will not miss her. I know that the woman that we knew and loved, would never have excluded us as part of her family or request that we not be included. Clearly, it was not accidental that we, as her family, were not listed as such, but I will be placing a correction in the paper listing her entire surviving family. Whoever made the decision that we were no longer considered her family now that she is not here to speak for herself, had no right to decide that, but I will be correcting this. Simply eliminating our names from an obituary, does not eliminate us as her family, regardless of the intentions.<br /> With that, Estella Hehn is also survived by her daughter-in-law, Sharon Riemerman, granddaughter Faith Rowley, 5 great grandchildren, Terrica (Chris) Perleberg, Lane (Cassie) Stoppleworth, Bradley Stoppleworth, Keira Schemp, and Rylin Schempp, and 4 great great grand children, Jameson, Liam, Faylinn, and Daxton.

Stella was my Mom for 35 years. I will always remember her, she taught me a lot of things and she helped me to find my way to the Lord. If you read my daughter\'s message. You will see how much we all loved her. (Faith Rowley)

She was a very kind lady. A huge loss to her family.

Estella was my great grandma, i loved her so much, i would spend my summers with her in Jamestown, her cooking was the best you would ever have. She would always win at board games that me, her and my sister would play, it was funny when ever she would start losing (she was a sore loser), but in the end it didn\'t matter, as long as we got to spend time with her, she would love you with all her heart, and she never had a mean thing to say about anyone. I\'m really going to miss visiting her, calling her, or just sitting and talking with her, I love you great grandma and always will.