Helen Martin, 84, of Mitchell, SD passed away on Sunday, August 17, 2014 at the Firesteel Healthcare Center in Mitchell, SD. Funeral service will be held on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 at 11:00am at the Mason Funeral Home in Winner, SD. Burial will follow in the Winner City Cemetery. A visitation will be held 2 hours prior to the funeral service on Tuesday at the Mason Funeral Home. Helen Marie (Recoy) Martin, daughter of Jesse Alfred Recoy and Nora Ellen (Kinkennon) Recoy was born February 11, 1930 in Chamberlain, South Dakota. At the age of 17, after Helen's high school graduation, she began teaching country school. During the next 25 years she taught in several rural schools including Midland, SD; Hawarden, IA; Reliance, SD; Iona, SD; Kennebec, SD; Ft.Pierre, SD and Hamill, SD. During these years, Helen took classes from the Iowa State Teacher's College. On August 21, 1970, Helen married Bernard Lawrence Martin, a life time residence of Hamill, SD. They were married in Fort Dodge, Iowa where Helen's sister, Anna lived. They made their home on the farm at Hamill where they were members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Helen and husband, Bernard, spent their married years raising crops and livestock, church activities and enjoying attending auctions. Some of Helen's favorite past-times included collecting and studying the history of many different types of dolls, refunding, garage sales, collecting stamps, reading and word games. Helen and her sister, Anna, took several vacations travelling through the states and into Canada. Their leisurely trips included sightseeing, visiting relatives and many afternoons playing Scrabble. During the years, Helen maintained a friendship with many of the students she had taught. Helen was proceeded in death by husband, Bernard (who died in 1994); parents Alfred and Nora Recoy; siblings James (wife Maxine) Recoy, Mae (husband William) Hedlund, Margarete (husband Wayne) Foster, Ray (wife Bernice) Recoy; Robert (wives Ruth & Edna) Recoy, Gladys (husband Walter) Weeber, Ted (Lela) Recoy , Anna (husbands Lee Olson, Harvey Keller and Richard) Kinkennon. She is survived by sister-in-law Polly (Recoy) Wright as well as many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews who will miss her quiet presence, her poems, music and relating of the early days of their family history. Please remember Helen as we remember one of her favorite sayings " I've learned - that it's not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts".