Helen Marie Tiemann Kolb was born in November of 1931 to her loving parents William Edward Tiemann and Helen Marie Willmann Tiemann on their family farm three miles east of downtown Seguin, Texas. She passed away on September 13, 2024 in New Braunfels, Texas at the age of 92. She will be truly missed by those she loved but left behind a lifetime of happy memories.
As a child, Helen attended Tiemann School, a small one-room school that Theodore Tiemann, her grandfather, started and donated the land for. She would walk to the school from their family farmhouse. Her father farmed the family land around the farmhouse and school.
As a young girl, Helen witnessed the beginning of World War II as the skies above their farm filled with trainer aircraft circling the Tiemann farm after the Army Air Corps built a runway less than a mile from their farmhouse – now Randolph Auxiliary Field. She had two older brothers, Rev. Dr.
William Harold Tiemann who became a Presbyterian Minister and Dr. Kenneth Edward Tiemann, an accomplished pharmacist. By example, her parents instilled traditional hard-working principles and taught them love of God and love of neighbor.
A talented soprano, Helen grew up singing at every opportunity, serving God with her voice for decades at St. James Catholic Church in Seguin. While attending Texas Lutheran College, and singing professionally part-time, Helen sang at an event on Randolph Air Force Base, where she met and soon thereafter married her husband of forty-nine years, Maj.
Maynard Kolb. They had three children and served a full Air Force career living in Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and California before returning to Seguin. During that career, Helen and her children were blessed to spend quality time with her family at the Tiemann farm in Seguin while her husband was deployed in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
After her husband’s retirement from the Air Force, the family returned home and Helen became actively involved in the Guadalupe County community. Over the years, Helen proudly wore many hats – she had many hobbies and constantly volunteered her time to local organizations. To name a few, she was a realtor, law office assistant to her son - Judge Kevin Kolb, a Guadalupe County Master Gardner, a Seguin Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, member of the Guadalupe County Republican Women, member of the Conservation Society, member of the Delphians Study Club, Daughter of the Republic of Texas, vocalist, and active volunteer in many roles at St.
James Catholic Church. She will be most fondly remembered though for the things that brought her the most joy in life – being a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. As an amateur genealogist, she proudly kept great records of her family tree and Texas-German heritage.
She loved to share stories passed down through generations about the struggles and the early years of German settlers to our area. Her direct ancestors included some of the first settlers of both Seguin and New Braunfels, as well as important community leaders such as her great-great grandfather, Tobias Meiniger – an early Texan-German architect and entrepreneur who designed various Seguin landmark buildings, including the historic landmark Sebastapool, and co-owned a stagecoach company that transported settlers from the port of Indianolia to Seguin, New Braunfels, and Fredericksburg. Helen was a devout Roman Catholic and served St.
James Church in any way she could – she was the first person to deliver Holy Communion away from Mass to patients at Guadalupe Valley Hospital and loved doing so weekly for many years. She also was a vocalist and song leader and is remembered by many for her beautiful solos of songs like her rendition of Ave Maria, which she sang for many years at Christmas Midnight Mass. Her family will most fondly remember her for the joy, love, care, and support she gave them throughout the years.
Known as “Mimi” to her grandchildren, a day never went by without her showing them love in some way. She attended every major event in their lives with, as she loved to say, “bells on.” She made Christmases magical and tough times bearable for everyone she loved.
Survived by: Daughter – and primary caregiver for the last twelve years, Margaret “Margie” H. Traeger and husband John A. “Drew” Traeger Jr.
, their two sons: John “Andrew” A. Traeger III, spouse Megan M. Traeger, and daughters Ryan Grace Traeger and Reagan Margaret Traeger; and Steven M.
Traeger, spouse Kaitlyn V. Traeger, and daughter Adeline Marie Traeger, all of New Braunfels, TX. Daughter – Helynne “Lynn” Mary Starcke, spouse Hilmar Starcke, three children, Christopher L.
Lawrence, Michael Lawrence, Michelle Van Overloop, and husband John Van Overloop. Daughter in law – Elizabeth Murray-Kolb; and her son Michael Murray, spouse Tabitha Murray, and son Roger Murray. Also survived by nieces and nephews: Dr.
Terri Horan and husband Charlie Meeks and their respective children, Dr. William J. Steele III and Max Meeks; Lisa Tiemann; Stephen and wife Malia Tiemann; and Karen and husband Bill Blackwell.
Helen is preceded in death by her parents, Helen M. Tiemann & William E. Tiemann, her son Judge Kevin M.
Kolb, brothers Dr. William H. Tiemann and Dr.
Kenneth E. Tiemann, and nephew Andrew “Andy” Tiemann. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Sts.
Peter & Paul Catholic Church in New Braunfels, Texas on Monday, September 23, 2024 at 10 a.m. A reception will follow next door in St.
Mary’s Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that you make donations to Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School or Sts.
Peter and Paul Catholic Church Music Ministry. Please sign the guestbook at www.doeppenschmidtfuneralhome.
com.
