Helena C. Papritz, age 76, of Brookings, died Wednesday, May 18, 2005, at Avera-McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls. Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M. Monday, May 23, 2005, at Ascension Lutheran Church in Brookings, with interment in First Lutheran Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5-7 P.M. Sunday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Helena Christine Papritz was born March 1, 1929, at Akron, Iowa, to John and Gertrude (Huebner) Papritz. She grew up and graduated from high school in Akron. She attended General Beadle State Teachers College ( Dakota State University) with her sister, Wilma, getting her Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. At that time you did not need a degree to teach, so she and Wilma would teach during the school year and go to college during the summer. In this way Helena continued her education, obtaining her Masters in Elementary Education in 1964. Helena taught first grade and special education for more than forty years, thirty of them in the Brookings Public Schools. She retired around 1991. She was a member of the Brookings Area Retired Teachers Association, SDEA, and NEA. Helena was a member of Ascension Lutheran Church in Brookings, where she belonged to the Esther Circle and church womens group. Her special interests included cheering on the Minnesota Twins, reading, politics, and current events, as well as being devoted to her nieces, nephews, and their children. Survivors include brother-in-law Roy (Redetta) Jensen, of Sioux Falls, sister Florence Papritz Phillips, of Front Royal, Virginia, brother-in-law Phil Phillips, Naples, Florida; nephews: Dale (Kathy) Jensen (daughters Anna & Elizabeth) of Dallas, Texas, Paul (Thereasa) Phillips of Orlando, Florida; nieces: Julie Jensen and husband Larry Shelley (son David) of St. Paul, Minnesota, Amy (Jim) McCarthy (sons: Michael and Patrick & daughter: Maureen) of Plano, Texas; and numerous uncles, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Wilma Jensen.