Jenkins, Mary Helen





Mary Helen Thomas Jenkins died in her Drexel, Missouri home on March 16, 2009, at the age of 81. She was surrounded by family when she slipped away peacefully two months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was born February 12, 1928 in Sugar Township, Miami County, Kansas, to Bessie Belle Burson Thomas and Herbert Sherman Thomas. With her siblings Mildred Ellen Raffety, Herbert Edwin Thomas, and James Earl Thomas she grew up on a farm west of Drexel, without running water or electricity. At home, she read by the light of a coal oil lamp and kept warm with the heat of a woodstove. She attended the Number 5 school house in Miami County. Helping the family raise their own food, and sew their clothing, she learned simple, conservative values she would pass on to her own children. The Thomas family lived in a series of rental properties until moving into a white two-story house at the corner of Second and Bates streets in Drexel where Citizens Bank stands today. Mary Helen graduated from Drexel High School in 1946. On November 7, 1948, she married Robert Lee Jenkins in the Baptist Parsonage in Drexel, Missouri. Together they raised three children, Thomas Lee Jenkins, Debra Carson Burke, and Angela Gay Jenkins. The family moved several times as Bob worked in the aerospace industry. They lived in Wichita and Shawnee, Kansas, and Drexel, Missouri. For a few years, they owned a restaurant and later a hobby shop on Main Street in Drexel, where Mary Helen enjoyed teaching toll painting. She also worked for King Radio and the Bendix Corporation. She was a member of the Drexel Methodist Church and was an active member of the Mary Martha Circle for many years. As the matriarch, Mary Helen lived by the principles that made Dave Ramsey famous: pay cash, spend less than you make, and if you can't afford it, don't buy it. Always practical and plain- spoken, she taught her children to love others unconditionally as best you can, to work around those you must rather than try to change them, and remember your attitude about yourself shouldn't depend on the opinion of others. Above all, she would have us remember, "God gave you a good brain - use it." Later in life, Mary Helen's interests turned to genealogy. She spent countless hours doing research on the Internet, tracing the family history back 10 generations to the 1750's. She learned she had relatives who participated in the Boston Tea Party, and a connection to Abraham Lincoln. She was an avid reader of historical fiction, and a dedicated follower of conservative politics. She was preceded in death by her husband Robert (September 7, 1994), as well as her parents. She is survived by her siblings and children, her eight grandchildren; Heather, Holly, Noelle, Andrea, Mike, Jennifer, Christian, and Hayley, and eleven great-grandchildren Hannah, Ryder, Joey, Jenna, Emily, Miles, Cedar and Bodhi, and three great- grandchildren by granddaughter Noelle Jenkins. Services will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, March 19, at the Drexel United Methodist Church with Rev. Marilyn Niemeyer, Ph.D., presiding. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m., Wednesday, March 18, at the Mullinax Chapel, Drexel. Burial will be in Sharon Cemetery, Drexel. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to: Drexel United Methodist Church, Memorial Fund, PO Box 19, Drexel, Mo., 64742. Fond memories and condolences may be left for the family at www.mullinaxfh.com.

Arrangements by Mullinax Funeral Home, Drexel, 816-657-4400.