Helena was born on December 9, 1913, on a farm near Swedesburg, Iowa to Elmer and Emma Anderson Johnson. She was baptized and confirmed at the Swedesburg Lutheran Church. She graduated from Olds High School with the Class of 1930 and later attended a cosmetology school in Burlington. Helena eventually moved to Grinnell, where she worked at a beauty salon. On August 20, 1944, she was married to Meredith Madill in Swedesburg. The couple operated a grain and livestock farm near Newburg. In 1993 she left the farm and moved to live near her daughter in Marshalltown. She has resided at Villa De Sol in Marshalltown since May of 2007. Survivors include her daughter, Carolyn (Mark) Underwood of Marshalltown; two grandchildren, Robert (Laura) Underwood of Louisville, Kentucky and Andrea (James) Van Gundy of Des Moines, Iowa; and one great granddaughter, Allison Marie Underwood of Louisville, Kentucky; and one cousin, Miriam Barney of San Antonio, Texas; a sister-in-law, Ferne Claus of Grinnell; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; and one brother, Waldo Johnson. Memorials may be directed to the Iowa River Hospice, to the Swedish Heritage Society in Swedesburg, Iowa or to the Newburg-Chester Congregational Church.