Helen was sharp of mind and quick in action and thus became Pop's favorite. When we picked figs, she was always the first one to finish her quota, whatever number of boxes we had to have picked. Then she would sit under a tree and read a book. Her favorite author was Zane Grey, and she read all of his books the library had.
Maybe because she read a lot, she became very sociable and made friends easily. She always was conscious of her dress, and as mentioned elsewhere, had to have a new dress for each party.
In high school she did so well in her commercial course she won awards for typing and shorthand speed. In her junior year she was given the job of secretary in the principal's office which position she kept through her senior year. After graduating in 1936, she did office work at the ice plant all summer and then returned to be secretary to the school principal until school was out in 1937. At that time, she moved in with me in a small apartment in Berkeley and went to Heald's Business school for six months after which she went to work for Sherwin Williams Paint Company keeping that job for three and a half years.
Pop often expressed himself in wishing we girls would marry Bohemian boys and talked of taking Helen to Chicago to find a suitable mate, but never did anything about it.
In November 1941 Helen and Marta bought a car and had in mind to drive to Florida. When they got to Phoenix, they decided to stop and earn some money. Helen went to work for Standard Oil while Babe went to comptometer school and then got a job at Valley Bank. Helen met Warner, a would-be actor, on January 3, 1942, and on July 31 that year they were married. Warner was in the Army at the time.
The interesting note about this wedding was the fact that Helen was able to convince Pop to come to Phoenix and give her away in marriage in a church. Pop, Mom and I took a train to Phoenix and participated in the wedding. Because this was the folks' first trip out of the state since they were married, we took advantage of the situation and arranged a trip to Grand Canyon National Park after the wedding. Pop just didn't like eating in restaurants, so for lunch we would buy some bread, salami plus soft drinks or beer and find a tree under which we could picnic. I don't remember much about the train ride other than the fact it was a new experience.
Warner was in the service, and for the first year after their marriage Helen followed him each time he was transferred. When he left for overseas duty, Helen stayed on in Phoenix until his return in the fall of 1945. They then moved to Hollywood where he enrolled in Geller Theatre to pursue his acting career for two years, until he decided to combine his acting with teaching and earned his teaching credential at Fresno State. They returned to Southern California and he taught in the Little Lake City School District until his retirement from the district in 1979.
In the meantime, Helen gave birth to Laurel Lee in Culver City, California, on January 10, 1947 and Cheryl in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on October 4, 1948 and continued to work wherever she was.
In 1979 Helen and Warner moved to Las Vegas. Helen got a job working for an architect named Gary Guy Wilson, which she kept for five years. She quit in 1984 and in the fall of that year was hired as a personal assistant to Marilyn Redd, wife of William "Si" Redd, the founder of International Gaming Technology. The job ended with Mrs. Redd’s untimely death from cancer in 1996 (she was only 60). Helen did some volunteering at Senior Friends, but missed working so she got a part-time job at Legal Forms Plus in 1998 and continued working for the same partnership until three weeks before she passed on July 6, 2000.
1996
Lumir and Helen - 1936
Midpines Thanksgiving Dinner
Helen with Lee Vyborny - 1944