Helen Fenstermacher

As reported last week, services for Helen Esther (Ediger) Fenstermacher, 99, who died April 10, were Friday.

She was born April 2, 1924, to Henry David and Agatha (Wiens) Ediger in Henderson, Nebraska, and changed her first name to Helen when she was 18 as she “just didn’t care for” the name Lena.

Her grandparents emigrated from Russia, and she learned to speak English at a one-room school in Nebraska.

She graduated from high school in 1943 in Reedley, California, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tabor College in 1947.

She then attended nurse’s training at Fresno General Hospital and worked as a registered nurse. She later worked as a custom wedding dress designer.

She married Robert James Fenstermacher in 1951. He preceded her in death, as did siblings Daniel Ediger, Lydia Heinrichs, and Johnny Ediger, and children Richard, Donna Jean, Robert, and Ruth.

Survivors include sister Edna Warkentine; children Barbara Villanueva, Mary Steketee, and Samuel Fenstermacher; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.