RAPID CITY- Helen S. Thomas, 95, died Saturday, September 14, 2013 at Clarkson Health Care. Helen Thomas was born Serena Helena Norland on December 26th, 1917 on the farm near Colome SD to Peder Norland and Annetta Engebrecht Bjoe, immigrants from Stavanger and Bergen Norway. She was 5th of 6 children who shared their small but cozy home. Helen was born and raised on the family homestead and attended a rural Lutheran church where she was confirmed in 1930. She graduated from Winner High School in 1935, and then moved to Rapid City to attend secretarial school. She was the first female checker at the new Safeway store on the corner of 8th and Main. She often lunched at a small place nearby where you often had to share a table with strangers. One of those handsome strangers was Horace Thomas, better known as "Tommy". He was the service manager for RC Implement for 40 years in downtown Rapid City. They eloped November 4th 1940 in Pierre, SD. During WWII, when Tommy was a Chief Warrant Officer for the National Guard, Helen followed him as best she could from Maine to California in her 36 Plymouth with a rumble seat. She was a civil servant in Washington DC while waiting for her husband to return from overseas. They settled in Rapid City and stayed 50 plus years in the same house in west Rapid. There they raised 3 boys and a girl: James (Veda) Thomas who now lives in Morro Bay CA, Bobby Thomas, who passed away in 1999; Brent who lives in Rapid; and Brenda (Jim) Cypher who farms near Wolsey SD. Helen worked 35 years as a school secretary at Central HS, Horace Mann, Canyon Lake and Cleghorn. She retired to a life of dancing, fishing, travelling, volunteering at the VFW auxiliary, enjoying her grandchildren and riding Brent's Harley Davidson motorcycle. She took her first ride with him when she was 88 years old, and always wanted to go again. She was a great cook and hostess, a fine seamstress and a gracious homemaker. She always had time to share conversations over homemade pie and coffee at her kitchen table. She often travelled to California to visit Jim and his family. Surviving sisters include Selma Carolina (Tom) Holden of Winner SD, who just celebrated her 102nd birthday, and Mildred (Paul) Schurger of Rapid City. She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Tommy; one son, Bobby; one sister Inger Henneman; two brothers Perry and Arthur; and a special friend Chester Wohlheuter. Her grandchildren include Jennifer (Brian) Buscher of CA; James T Cypher of Dallas TX; Tommy (Celina) Cypher of Bremerton WA; Carolyn (Jacob) Geis of Ames IA; Patrick Cypher of Whidbey Island WA; and Leah (Travis) Hofer of Hitchcock SD. She loved her step grandchildren equally: Janet Hyde-Wright in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, Sherry Wright of CA, and Steve (Crystal) Wright of CO, and was especially fond of her great grandchild and namesake, Serena Rose. Helen passed away peacefully in her sleep Saturday, September 14th at the Clarkson Care Center. A special thank you goes to the staff at Clarkson for the wonderful care they gave during her last 5 years. She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother and friend, and will be missed by all who knew her. Services will be at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, September 20, 2013 at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home in Rapid City. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until service time. Interment will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis.