Jeanne Besst

SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Helen Gatewood, 92, of South Sioux City passed away peacefully Sunday, April 26, 2015, at her daughter's home, surrounded by her family.

Services will be 11 a.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church in South Sioux City. Graveside services will be 2:30 p.m. Friday in Hillcrest Cemetery, Decatur, Neb. Visitation with the family will be 9:45 a.m. until service time Friday, with an Eastern Star service at 9:30 a.m., at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel.

Helen Roberta Small was born to Walter and Tessa (Mayberry) Small on Oct. 1, 1922, in Sheridan, Wyo. The family left their ranch near Wyola, Mont., and returned to Nebraska the next year. The family became an active part of the Decatur, Neb., community. Helen graduated from

Decatur High School in 1940, attended Midland College for one year, and then returned to Decatur to teach the 1941-42 school year at Ball School District 38. Helen then answered her true calling to be a nurse and attended St. Joseph College of Nursing in Sioux City, graduating as a registered nurse in 1945.

On July 24, 1945, she married Joel W. Gatewood. During their 15-year marriage, they were blessed with four children. In the 1970s, Helen earned her bachelor of arts degree from Morningside College. Her lifelong career of service included work as a rural school teacher, case worker with the Department of Human Services in Dakota and Woodbury counties, registered nurse in the Sioux City hospitals, and school nurse in both the South Sioux City and Sioux City Community Schools. After her retirement from the Sioux City schools in 1985, she worked with Western Iowa Tech Community College on the preschool screening team.

Celebrating Helen's legacy of love and service are her children: Joel (Marcia) Gatewood Jr., Jacklynn (Wayne) Petersen, Jeanne (Tom) Barnes, and James (fiancée Ruth Phipps) Gatewood, brother: Walter "Bud" Small, nephew: Dan (Konnie) Small, the grandchildren she treasured: Tessa (Jeff) Etherington, Anna (Patrick) Reynolds, Carey Barnes, Jessica Petersen, Adam Petersen, Emily (Josh) Murray, and Jacob (Pam) Gatewood, great-grandchildren: Jack, Katie, Kindi, Joshua, and Tommy Etherington, Joel and Hannah Reynolds, Elizabeth Murray, and Marshal Gatewood, and all beloved family and friends.