Helen J. Wolf Taknen

Independent Enterprise
Wednesday, April 24, 1985

Services for Helen J. Wolf Taknen, 69, of Boise, who died Saturday, April 20, 1985, in a Boise hospital of natural causes, were conducted today in the Alden-Waggoner Chapel, with Rev. Don I. Smith, a Methodist minister from Bend, Ore., officiating. Graveside services followed at Riverside Cemetery, Payette.

Mrs. Taknen, a homemaker and Arabian horse breeder, was born Dec. 7, 1915, at Payette, daughter of Jesse and Francis Newton. She was raised and educated in Payette. She married Gordon Alan Wolf on Aug. 14, 1938, in the Payette Methodist church. They moved to Pocatello where she attended college and also worked for the J. C. Penney Co. The Wolf family moved to Salmon in 1945 where they bought the Salmon Rexall Drugstore. They lived in Salmon for 21 years and it was here that she started her Arabian horse business. She was a member of the Salmonettes Riding Club, the PEO, Bridge Club and the Salmon High Boosters. Mr. Wolfe died Sept. 19, 1966. She then bought a horse ranch in Boise, and was employed at the Rodeway Inn during this time. She married Ted Taknen on Aug. 18, 1973, at Boise and they bought a ranch in Emmett. Mr. Taknen died in 1978. She returned to Boise in 1981 to be near her family and culminated her adult lifelong love of Arabian horses. She was a member of Des Arab; Daughters of the Nile; Order of Eastern Star; the International Arabian Horse Association; and the Arabian Horse Registry of America. Her horses won numerous awards at horse competitions throughout the West.

Survivors include two sons, Gordon Alan "Butch" Wolf and Donald Nelson Wolf, both of Boise; two sisters Martha (Mrs. K.E.) Young of Boise and Maxine (Mrs. Bennie) Reeves of Umatilla, Ore.; seven grandchildren and numerous nieces and a nephew. A grandson, Christopher died earlier.

Memorials may be made to the Shriners Crippled Children's Hospital in care of El Korah Temple, 1118 W. Idaho, Boise, 83702.

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