Helene Marie (Petro) Strimbu

We celebrate the life of Helene Marie Strimbu, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at her home in Crown Point, Indiana. Helene married her high-school sweetheart and life-long best friend in 1956. They lived in Valparaiso, Indiana and spent time each year at their home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Most recently, they moved to Crown Point. Helene was born in Gary, Indiana, and attended Lew Wallace High School. She completed her nurse’s training at Methodist Hospital in Gary and received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. Helene spent her career in the nursing profession, working twenty years at Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso. She was the head nurse on the Psychiatric Ward, and then managed the utilization review team. Next, she worked on the IV Team at Broadway Methodist Hospital in Merrillville, Indiana. She then spent a decade at Healthy Start in Hammond, Indiana, providing well-being services to underprivileged mothers across Northwest Indiana. An expert marksman, she participated in the National Trophy Pistol and Rifle events at Camp Perry, Ohio, earning multiple awards at the event considered as America’s “World Series of the Shooting Sports”. In her retirement, Helene enjoyed traveling across the country by car and by train, with her husband Don. She performed as a Eucharistic Minister at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Winfield, Indiana, and was active in the Holy Spirit Church food pantry (a St. Vincent DePaul Society affiliate). Helene was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, Donald J. Strimbu, Sr., her mother, Helen Petro (née Sprusansky), her father Andrew Petro, and her brother Ronald Petro. She is survived by her daughter Laura Ann (Mark) Pfledderer of Valparaiso, her son Don Jr. of Novato, California, her “adopted” daughter, Barbara Jean Owens, and her grandchildren Lauren Ashley (Clayton) Knight, of Elburn, Illinois, Alan Strimbu of Bartlett, Illinois, Lindsey Pfledderer of Indianapolis, Indiana and Collette Pfledderer of Valparaiso, Indiana. Our mother was loved by everyone who knew her. She was someone who you were proud to meet and were later proud to say that you knew. Mom remembered every single detail of the lives of her people, both family and friends. She was solid in who she was, in her relationship with our Dad and in her relationships with everyone she knew and loved. Mom and Dad had more close friends than any other couple that any of us have ever known. The Strimbu kids had more “aunts” and “uncles” than was physically possible, and we love every one of them. This is the legacy of Helene and Don because we can’t talk about one of them without talking about the other. They were as close to one person as any two people could be. We miss them both, greatly. A memorial visitation for Helene and Don will be held at Burns Funeral Home and Crematory, 10101 Broadway, Crown Point, IN on Thursday, October 13, 2022, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The memorial service will take place at Burns Funeral Home, Crown Point on Friday, October 14, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. Rev. Thomas E. Mischler officiating. In lieu of flowers, we ask for donations to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in their names. www.burnsfuneral.com

Helene Marie (Petro) Strimbu

January 29, 1935 - September 7, 2022