Helen Norma Wolford, 88, a resident of the Sunset Manor Nursing Home in Frontenac, passed away peacefully on March 4, 2009, at the Mount Carmel Regional Medical Center in Pittsburg.

She was born Oct. 27, 1920, in Racine, Wis., the oldest of 14 children to Andrew and Katherine Schmidt Baum.

He has been a resident of the Pittsburg area since 1995 moving from Chanute where she lived 31 years.

She married Ralph Max Wolford on Oct. 10, 1940, in Russell. He died May 11, 1977.

She was a homemaker who traveled with her husband a heavy equipment operator, leading her to live in 48 states, eventually settling in Chanute where she managed Wrestlers Trailer Park.

She was an avid bird watcher and loved gardening and fishing. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star Post 147 and active in the Democratic Party as a poll worker for many years.

Survivors include a daughter, Sandra K. Kelley, Pittsburg; a granddaughter and her husband, Heather and Alan Duecy, Frontenac; three great-grandchildren, Kristin Hutto and husband Anthony, Lockwood, Mo., Travis Duecy, Pittsburg, and Dakota Duecy, Frontenac; and a great-great-grandchild, Andrea Hutto, Lockwood; 12 brothers and sisters and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by two brothers.

She was very much loved by her family and will be greatly missed.

Private burial services will be at a later date. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery in Chanute. Arrangements are under the direction of the Bath-Naylor Funeral Home, Pittsburg.