Helen Telfel

Mrs. Helen C. Telfel, 94, a long-time resident of Topeka, died October 27, 2007 after a long illness at Autumn Home Plus in Topeka. The youngest child of Karen Sophia Sorensen and Peter Christensen, she was born October 13, 1913 in Menominee, Michigan. She graduated from Menominee High School in 1930, and attended Jordan College. She married Emil Telfel, director of journalism at Loyola University, in New Orleans in 1939. The couple moved to Lawrence in 1946, when Mr. Telfel took a position with the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. Mrs. Telfel graduated in 1950 with a B.A. degree from the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She worked for many years as a secretary with the Division of Sanitation of the Kansas Health Department. Mr. Telfel died in 1958. In 1998, Mrs. Telfel married Dwight F. Metzler, who died in 2001.

Mrs. Telfel shared with family and friends a life-long love of literature, cats, and education. Each year for as long as she was able, she re-read all of Jane Austen's novels from a collection given to her by her mother. Cats pleased her because, she said, "they do such surprising things." Her interest in education led her to endow two scholarships in the KU College of Liberal Arts, one in Mr. Telfel's name and one in her own.

Mrs. Telfel was preceded in death by her brothers, Christopher, Peter and George Burton. Surviving are her niece, Mary Elizabeth Hansen Preston, of University Place, WA; and stepdaughters, Linda Metzler, of Gambier, OH; Brenda Metzler, of Needham, MA; Marilyn Metzler, of Chapel Hill, NC; and Martha Metzler, Topeka.

A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery, located at Elmwood and 15th street in Lawrence. Penwell-Gabel Southwest Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cat Association of Topeka, 1719 SW Gage Blvd., Topeka, Kansas 66604.