Helen Blanche Hanks

Helen Hanks of Dighton, Kansas passed away peacefully on February 18, 2022, at the Cedar Village long-term care facility in Ness City, Kansas in the presence of her daughter and daughter-in-law. The cause of death was cancer-related complications.
She was born Helen Blanche Prose in the country in Ness County, Kansas on July 1, 1935, daughter of Frank Clarence Prose and Nola V. (Meek) Prose. Due to the Depression and Dust Bowl, the young family moved to Westwego, Louisiana, where Frank found work in off-shore drilling for the Texas Oil Company. A sister, Ava Adele, was born in Louisiana in 1938. The family returned to Kansas in 1950 when Frank's father, Bert Prose, asked Frank to take over the family farm located south of Beeler, Kansas.
Helen graduated from Ness City High School in 1953 and then attended and graduated from Brown-Mackie Business School. Upon graduation, she accepted a secretarial position with Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas. While in Wichita, Helen met and then married Robert F. Metzker of Coldwater, Kansas. Shortly thereafter the couple relocated to Boulder, Colorado so that Bob could attend the University of Colorado. Bob was later employed by the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder. Two children, Rebecca Claire (1957) and Robert Charles (1963) were born during the couple's stay in Boulder.
With the children out of grade school, Helen worked for the Boulder Valley School District as a secretary and attended classes through the University of Colorado's College for Women, concentrating on literature, English, and writing. Later she wrote articles for the Boulder Daily Camera and various other publications. In 1976, Helen received a certificate in Small Business Management from the Colorado Economic Development Association and Small Business Administration. After Bob's retirement from the National Bureau of Standards in 1981, the couple returned to Lane County, Kansas.
Helen cared for her mother, Nola, through the mid-1990s. In 1996, Helen married E. Joe Hanks, a farmer and rancher in Lane County. Helen and Joe designed, built, and lived in their dream home just east of Dighton, Kansas where they enjoyed gardening, tending the orchard they had planted, and providing pumpkins for Dighton's annual "Punkin Patch Day" all while Joe continued his farming and ranching operations. They enjoyed traveling and even drove to Alaska for their honeymoon. Joe passed away in August 2021.
Helen is survived by her sister, Ava Adele Hack (Bob), of Springfield Oregon, daughter Rebecca Metzker-Hansen (Brian) of Boulder, Colorado; daughter-in-law Donna Metzker of Ness City, Kansas; granddaughter Erica Prose Hansen (Alex) of Victor, Idaho; grandson Frank Hansen (Erin) of Littleton, Colorado; grandson Gunnar Hansen of Victor, Idaho; grandson Derek Hembree of Long Beach, California; granddaughter Jennifer Howard (Nathan) of Ellis, Kansas; grandson Ryan Hembree (Andrea) of Blanchard, Oklahoma; and four great grandchildren. Preceding Helen in death are her husband E. Joe Hanks, her son Robert C. Metzker, and her first husband Robert F. Metzker.
A family and friends grave-side memorial for Helen will be held at the Buda Cemetery this spring at a date to be announced preceded by a mass at Sacred Heart Church in Ness City. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Prairie, Dodge City, Kansas; Sacred Heart Church, Ness City, Kansas; and Buda Cemetery, Ness County, Kansas.