Helen VerStraeten Roudabush, 94, of Grinnell died March 30, 2009, at the Mayflower Homes Community in Grinnell. A funeral mass will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Grinnell. Burial will be in the Brooklyn Memorial Cemetery. Visitation with the family present will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Friday at the Carmen Center at the Mayflower Community and from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell. Memorial contributions may be directed to Grinnell Regional Hospice, Mayflower Homes Foundation, or St. Mary's Catholic Church. Helen was born to Charles A. and Mary Gallagher VerStraeten on November 30, 1914, in rural Ft. Collins, Colorado. Later she moved with her family to Poweshiek County, Iowa. She attended rural schools in Poweshiek County and graduated from Brooklyn High School in 1932. She attended Mt. Saint Clare College in Clinton. Helen worked for Dr. E. J. Ringena in Brooklyn until her marriage to John F. Roudabush on February 4, 1943, in Brooklyn. Together they raised his four children, owned an insurance agency, invested in farm land and enjoyed traveling. After the death of her husband on February 2, 1959, she became a bookkeeper for Poweshiek Mutual Insurance Association in Grinnell. She moved to Grinnell in 1969, retiring in December 1977. She moved to the Mayflower Homes Community in 2003. Survivors include three step-daughters, Dolores (Roger) McLain of Austin, Texas, Donna Hepner of St. Louis, Missouri, and Dorothy Carpenter of Newton; one step-daughter-in-law, Charlotte Roudabush of Brooklyn; one sister, Rita Teeter of Walnut Creek, California; one sister-in-law, Therese VerStraeten of Des Moines; 12 step-grandchildren; 26 step-great-grandchildren; one step-great great-grandchild; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband. John F. Roudabush; parents, Charles and Mary VerStraeten; one sister, Margaret Boughn; three brothers, Joseph, Charles, and Jack VerStraeten; one step-son, J. Duane Roudabush; and one step-granddaughter, Denise Roudabush.