Gary Herman Helgerson, 72, of Elkader, died Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at Patty Elwood Center, Country Winds Manor in Cresco following a brief illness due to dementia. He was born August 28, 1946, in West Union, to Herman and Marian (Schatz) Helgerson.
Gary graduated from Valley High School in 1964. He went on to UNI at Cedar Falls, where he earned his Industrial Arts Education degree, graduating in 1968. Later he attended Central Missouri State where he earned his Master’s Degree in 1970. Gary went on to teach Industrial Arts and Drivers Ed at Tripoli and Denver, Iowa, for 10 years, before moving to Elkader to become a State Farm Insurance Agent, a position held for 39 years until he retired in 2017.
He married Kae Jeanne Thompson. Three sons were born to this union. They later divorced.