Helen Irene Klaner

Helen Irene Klaner (nee Kievit) passed into life eternal on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at the age of 86 following a busy and fruitful life. Helen was born near Clifton, NJ on May 27, 1922, the daughter of Orrie and Katherine Kievit.

Her sister, Marion Ruth, was born a year later. The family moved to West Paterson, NJ while she was very young. Helen graduated from a local elementary school and later graduated from the Paterson Central High School. By reason of her initials she acquired the nickname ìHIKî.

As a young woman, she rode horseback as well as enjoying and playing high school basketball. Helen was an able stenographer, typist and bookkeeper. She worked briefly for an automobile agency, but then found office work at Instrument Specialties, which was located near her home. Her employer mass-produced precision-deflection springs from beryllium-copper alloys. While working there she became acquainted with Nelson Klaner who worked there between college semesters.

Helen and Nelson were married on April 20, 1944. During WWII, Nelson completed flight training and she accompanied him through ëphase trainingí assignments until he was deployed to the European Theater. She then returned to Instrument Specialties until Nelsonís return to the U.S. at the end of WWII.

Helen and Nelson lived in Veterans Housing at Montclair State College in NJ and they had three children: Tad, Glenn and Susan by the time Nelson completed college.

They moved to Little Falls, NJ for a number of years and she began working again when their youngest child became school age. They moved to Wayne Township and lived there for about three years. The family then moved to Harper Woods, Michigan in the summer of 1965. Helen worked for Masco Corporation until her retirement in 1988.

Following this long and busy/productive time of their lives, she and her husband relocated to Hendersonville, NC residing there until her passing at the Four Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care Elizabeth House.

While residing in Hendersonville, she joined and actively enjoyed attending the Pinecrest Presbyterian Church.

Surviving are her husband, Nelson; sister, Marion Ruth Kievit Morgan of Southbury, Conn.; daughter, Susan Lynn Madden of Macomb, Mich.; two sons, Glenn Ross Klaner and wife, Mary Ann, of Stephens City, Virginia and Tad Stanley Klaner and wife, Linda, of Waynesburg, Penn.; three granddaughters, Heather Lynn Wilson-Klaner of Waynesburg, Penn., Shelley Ann Klaner Broderick of Bristow, Virginia and Sarah Lynn Madden Christensen of Wilmington, NC; four grandsons, Todd Nelson Klaner of New Kensington, Penn., Brian Ross Klaner of Evansville, Indiana, Eric Edward Madden, and Glenn Burdette Klaner of Waynesburg, Penn.; two great-granddaughters Kaylen Shelby Klaner-Wilson and Tegan Nicole Klaner; and four great-grandsons Garrett Joseph Broderick, Austin Ross Klaner, Ethan Kertesz Broderick and Tyler Raymond James Klaner.