Helen Marie Hartmann

On the evening of September 24, 2026, Helen Marie (Stange) Hartmann passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family at the age of 87 in New Hampton, Iowa.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday Oct. 9, 2026 at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Hampton with Pastor Dan Christensen presiding.  Interment will take place at the New Hampton City Cemetery with Chad Stange, Todd Stange, Wade Stange, Brandon Petersen, Cory Rochford, Danny Davis, Carver Stange, Tate Rochford, and Tyce Rochford serving as pallbearers.  Fred Stange, Larry Stange, Lexi Hartmann, Bailey Klinkhammer, Kara Klinkhammer, Tessa Klinkhammer, Jeanne Rochford, and Julie Peterson will be serving as honorary pallbearers.

Friends may greet the family from 4:00-7:00 p.m., Thursday Oct. 8, 2026 at Hugeback – Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton. Visitation will continue an hour prior to the service on Friday at the church.

On June 28, 1939, just outside of Lawler, Iowa, Helen was brought into the world by parents Emil Stange and Margaret (Mahler) Stange. The following month, she was baptized and became a member of St. John’s Stapleton Lutheran Church in rural Waucoma, Iowa. Helen was confirmed in her faith at St. Peter’s of Richfield, in rural Sumner, Iowa in March of 1953. She attended Stapleton #4 and Biggs #8 rural schools, and graduated from Waucoma High School in May of 1958.

Helen was eternally united in marriage to Albert A. Hartmann of Boyd, Iowa, on June 24, 1962 at St. John’s Stapleton Lutheran Church of Waucoma, and maintained active membership of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Boyd. She carried the same dedication to her faith in the Trinity Lutheran Church of New Hampton. Helen spent years as a Sunday school teacher, and was an active member of her community, participating in the Boyd Craft Club, the hospital auxiliary, Historical Farm Bureau, Red Hat society, 4-H leader, and served as a hospice volunteer. Helen also held a variety of jobs over the years; babysitting for the Drapes, waitressing at Little Butch’s Cafe and the Main Diner, and clerking at Powell’s Variety Store for 25 years before she retired from Hardee’s. She was an avid bowler for many years.

Beyond her dedication to her faith and her involvement in her community, what Helen loved most was spending time with people. Her love for bringing people together, feeding them home cooked meals, her dedication to the Lord, and making life beautiful inside and out was reflected in her favorite holiday, Christmas. She welcomed family and friends into her home for chili and oyster stew after Christmas Eve church services, and always had baked goods on hand – chocolate chip cookies, Rice Krispie Treats, or M & M’s – to brighten someone’s day. Her baking was ingrained in holiday traditions. Grandchildren beamed with mouths full of angel food cake on birthdays, family waited not-so patiently as pieces of her delicious gooey brownies were passed around at the Chickasaw County Fair, and Helen’s sour cream cookies made every visit that much sweeter. Helen spent her life doting on her children and members of her community, but especially her grandchildren – despite the fact that they would bug her while she read the newspaper.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents, Emil and Margaret Stange, her brother, Arlie Stange, her niece, Shelly Stange, and her husband, Albert, whom she spent 59 years with.

Her legacy lives on with her two daughters, Karen (Dave) Malone of Rochester, Minnesota, Kristi (Steven) Klinkhammer of Clinton, Iowa, her son, Kurt (Brenda) Hartmann of Alden, Iowa, two brothers, Fred (Jo) Stange, Larry (Rhonda) Stange, her grandchildren, Bailey Klinkhammer, Kara Klinkhammer, Tessa Klinkhammer, Jordann (John) Dunlay, Jackie (Levi) Chipp, Justin (MacKenzie) Wenzel, Lexie (Alvaro Lucio) Hartmann, her great-grandchildren, Genieve Dunlay, Jackson Dunlay, McCoy Dunlay, Isabella Chipp, Hayden Chipp, Ellie Chipp, Laney Wenzel, and a host of nieces, and nephews.

May the Lord bless Helen’s memory among us.

Hugeback – Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton has been entrusted with arrangements.

641-394-4334