Helen Banal

Helen S. Banal, age 97 of Sauk Centre, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family on Friday, December 31, 2021 at her home in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 8, 2022 at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church in Sauk Centre. Interment will be held in the parish cemetery.

Visitation will be from 9:30  to 11 a.m. Saturday at the church.

Helen Skilling was born November 18, 1924 in Windom, Minnesota to Charles and Marie (Saunders) Skilling. She graduated from Windom High School in 1942 and began work as a teller in the First National Bank of Windom. In 1945 she married Doyle Hanson in Windom. They owned and operated a hardware store until Doyle’s failing health and death forced them to sell the store and she returned to work at the First National Bank.

In 1958 she married Dr. Henry Banal in Windom and they moved to Sauk Centre where he and Dr. C.W. Brown founded the Sauk Centre Veterinary Clinic where she was employed as a bookkeeper.

She was a member of Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church in Sauk Centre, Christian Mothers, Sauk Centre Seniors, VFW Auxiliary, and knitting groups. She was an avid knitter, reader, and enjoyed watching the Minnesota Twins and Vikings.

Survivors include her children, Mary Ellen (Michael) Sauser of Pine City, Thomas (Karen) Banal of Sauk Centre, Susan (Andrew Tanick) Banal of Minnetonka, and Mark Banal of Hopkins; and grandchildren, Matthew, Danielle (Toby), and Christopher (Bella) Banal, and Talia Tanick.

Helen was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Henry Banal son, Dominic Banal; parents; first husband, Doyle Hanson; step-father, Al Rammer; sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Jerry Sogge; and niece, Mary Anne Baker.

Memorials are preferred to Place of Hope in St. Cloud.