Helen Ann Lamoureux

Helen Ann (Stout) Lamoureux of Emporia passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, at Newman Regional Hospital in Emporia on Sunday, November 30, 2025. She was 96.
Helen was born on August 12, 1929, in a farmhouse across from the historic Santa Fe Trail Havana Stagecoach Station near Burlingame, Kansas, to Henson Rozell Stout and Marjorie (Lucille) Workman Stout. She often reminisced about her early years-growing up in a log cabin without electricity or running water, taking bathroom breaks outdoors in an outhouse, using a hand crank to start a vehicle, washing clothes by hand, walking miles to school in all weather, and living without most conveniences her children and grandchildren now enjoy. Her youngest years were during the Great Depression, which began the year she was born. She would tell us, "Times were hard; we were poor, but my family was happy because we didn't know any better."
She graduated from Burlingame High School in 1947 and attended Clark Business School in Topeka that same year. Her business training led to her first job as an accountant for the Santa Fe Railroad. She later moved to Emporia in 1951 and worked as an accountant for Dolly Madison Bakery for 32 years, retiring in 1996.
At age 18 in 1947, Helen was crowned queen of the Kansas Free Fair beauty pageant in Topeka, Kansas, a contest organized by Warner Brothers Studios. She was offered a screen test in Hollywood but declined, saying she was a small-town girl at heart and could not imagine leaving her family. Through the years she occasionally wondered what might have been-never with regret, only with curiosity.
Helen married Dale DeWitt Fields in 1948, and together they had five children: Larry W. Fields of Salome, Arizona; Marcia K. Fields of Yuma, Arizona; John R. (Lorene) Fields of Hartford, Kansas; Roger L. (Debbie) Fields of Emporia, Kansas; and Gary D. Fields of Emporia, Kansas. Her family eventually grew to include 12 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren.
She married Harold Wayne Lamoureux on February 14, 1970, in Osage City, and they shared a loving marriage until his passing in 1985.
Helen embodied love, calmness, honesty, respect, and loyalty. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her; she was our family's queen.
She is survived by her stepbrother, Cliff F. (Sharon) Bruner of La Monte, Missouri; four children; nine grandchildren; twenty-four great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Harold; her siblings, Virginia (Stout) Hotchkiss and Dale Henson Stout; her son, Larry Wayne Fields; granddaughter Micia Kay Amos; and grandsons Troy Michael Amos and Jesse Dylan Fields.
God shaped this treasured soul for the 96 years we were blessed to know and love her. Now her spirit shines in its fullest brilliance as she is welcomed into God's eternal embrace.
In keeping with Helen's wishes, no formal service will be held. A private family gathering and Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date, with a private inurnment in Maplewood Cemetery in Emporia.
Memorial donations may be sent to Hand in Hand Hospice, 1201 W. 12th Ave., Emporia, KS 66801, or EFOZ (Emporia Friends of the Zoo), P.O. Box 345, Emporia, KS 66801.