Helen Louise Nethaway-Mindiola

     Helen Louise Nethaway-Mindiola passed away on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Miramar, Florida. She was 91 years old.
     Helen embarked on this great adventure we call “life”; from Michigan’s western upper peninsula in the small and unincorporated community of Trout Creek on June 22, 1934. She was raised on the Nethaway Centennial Farm in Shiawassee County, by her parents Grover and Joenettie Nethaway. She was the sixth of nine siblings descending in age: Dorothy, Charles “Chuck”, Perry “Pat”, Dora, Leila “Lee”, Marie, and Thomas “Tom” with the youngest Christopher “Chris” her sole surviving sibling.
      After spending some time in California studying in college, Helen moved to Michigan to help her family, subsequently graduating from Michigan State University in1965, and shortly after married Juan Mindiola, with whom she moved to Venezuela and raised 5 children: Juan, Patrick, Carolina, Mary, and Daniel. She was at times a Bilingual Kinder garden, ESL Academy owner/operator, grade school/high school teacher and higher education professor. At one time Helen was professor at three different institutions of higher learning. She later became an entrepreneur, running a successful homebased pastry manufacturing and distribution business. In 1989, she returned to Michigan where she came into full circle when she started working at MSU in the facilities support department. Starting again at the age of 55 was a daunting task, but Helen approached it like she had all her life, with hard work and tenacity. Helen did all this concurrently as an aunt, mother, great-aunt, and eventually grandmother and great-grandmother. Anybody that was fortunate to cross paths with her came out better no matter how fleeting the encounter was.
      After retiring from MSU in 2005, she gardened and was immersed in her neighborhood community and environmental activities. Helen always had an affinity for physical activity, especially sports, excelling at several namely bowling, baseball, and watersports, mainly Artistic Swimming. She cherished her six grandchildren: Clyde, Clare, Dennise, Juan Daniel, Daniella, Niobe, Nicolas, and Fernando and her three great-grandchildren: Gael, Liam, and Alonso as well as daughters-in-law: Katty Hidalgo and Merlys Gonzales.
     Helen was a very strong-willed woman and extremely independent. Unfortunately, that would all come to an end at the beginning of 2022, when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer-related Dementia. Helen could no longer live on her own, and had to move from Lansing, Michigan to Indianapolis, Indiana and stay with her daughter Mary and husband Ezequiel Jimenez. She eventually moved to Miramar, Florida, under the care of Carolina and her husband Fernando Ramirez, where she was surrounded by some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
     Despite her continuous arduous battle with this pernicious disease, the people she loved and loved her watched as she slowly faded away, stolen by this heinous disease.
      For a while you would catch glimpses, always more sparingly, of the blue-eyed beautiful woman you knew all your life, the larger-than-life person that was Helen – always so strong willed, hard-working, fond of conversation, spirited and full-of-life personality that always extended help to others.
      Funeral Services will be held at Smith Family Funeral Homes, Elsie, MI, on Friday, May 29, 2026, at 1:00 P.M. Burial will take place at Fairfield Township Cemetery, Fairfield Twp., MI. Visitation will be held on Friday, May 29, 2026, from 11:00 A.M. until the time of the service at the funeral home. 
      The family is requesting that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Helen’s name to Alzheimer’s Association (Alzheimer's Association ). The leading voluntary health organization in dementia care, support, and research. They offer a free, 24/7 Helpline (800-272-3900). and operate robust clinical trial matching services. Online condolences may be made at www.smithfamilyfuneralhomes.com. The family is being served by Smith Family Funeral Homes, Elsie, Michigan.