of West Memphis, AR

September 20, 1926 - November 1, 2018

Leroy Helcel, age ninety-two, died suddenly on Thursday, November 1, 2018. He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Lillian, three brothers, Steve, Marvin and Wesley, two sisters, Mary Kee and Rosa Lee Ruffinen. He is survived by his wife, DoraLena, two sons, Jerry Blansett (Carol), Randy Helcel (Celeste), grandsons David and Josh and granddaughter, Haley Brown, and five great-grandchildren. Services will be at 10 am, Monday, November 5 at Roller-Citizen's funeral home in West Memphis, Arkansas with burial at Crittenden Memorial Park Cemetery in Marion, Arkansas.

Leroy was born September 20, 1926 in Yantis, Texas, son of William and Lillian Helcel, and grew up around Marked Tree, Arkansas. He spent his early years as an itinerant farm worker during the depression years, where he learned to appreciate hard work, the importance of saving and never letting anything go to waste. During WWII, he served his country on a destroyer, having been involved in maneuvers in the Gulf prior to the war ending before his deployment. Following the war, Leroy was married to DoraLena Rowland on December 25, 1949, in Harrisburg, Arkansas.

He earned his first-class steam and refrigeration engineering license through Armour Meat company in the early fifties and worked at Armour for approximately thirty years, until it's closing. He then worked for the University of Tennessee Hospital in a similar position for approximately ten years.

Hunting and fishing with his sons, grandsons, nephews and buddies were special times, especially at the ''Chidister Hilton'' deer-camp in Southwest Arkansas. A joy of his life was coaching his sons and their friends in Little League, and the Babe Ruth League, which won the Arkansas State Championship in the early sixties. Leroy had many pastimes he enjoyed, being an expert marble game player, attending Potawatomi Indian Pow-wows in Shawnee, Oklahoma (being one-eighth Potawatomi on his father's side) and being able to repair anything mechanical.
In August, 2013, after many years of prayer by his surviving wife, DoraLena, Leroy was baptized at First Assembly, West Memphis Arkansas and continued his membership until his death.

Any memorials can be sent to First Assembly Church in West Memphis Arkansas.

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