Is this grandpa's secretary? I only have vague memories of her letting us push the buttons on the machine she used to cut checks. She was so very nice to me as a child. I am remembering correctly, is this her?
Helen! Helen Volz is her name. Mom did I spell that correctly? Maybe it's Voltz. Anyway, she is very much woven into the family memories! She died recently from cancer. My mom has some more pictures of her.
She was wonderful, but not so fun when I lost one of my Christmas checks from Gramps. Woops. Helen liked us to deposit those right away, not leave them hanging around. Once I found one years later and asked her if I could cash it. She informed me "NO", she had already replaced it with check # whatever. Shoot!
Yes, that is Helen Volz ... you spelled it correctly the first try, Jennifer (above). Helen ... oh how I loved Helen! She was truly wonderful and helped to the very end to protect Grandpa's dignity ... and money! She watched every penny as if it were her own. She wouldn't think of wasting a single cent! She would reuse files, take a letter by somewhere on her way home rather than using a stamp unnecessarily, and was a good friend to Grandpa. She respected and admired him and was loyal to him to the very end. I am sure she would much rather have retired years before, but knew that Grandpa needed her, and wouldn't leave him which allowed him to feel useful and productive far longer than he ever would have without her. After Grandpa passed on, there is no way either Jan or I could have gotten things together for the CPA and attorneys to close the estate in such an efficient manner. We would have been lost. Her record keeping was meticulous, saving the estate a considerable amount. Oh yes, Gramps paid her well, but she was invaluable. I never saw Helen in a bad mood. She always had a smile on her face. She especially lit up when her only child, Craig or his wife or her 3 grandchildren were mentioned. She adored them. Helen didn't believe in going into debt for anything ... not even a house. They lived in a small apartment above her husbands business for years and years, saving their money to build a house. They built it a little at a time as they could afford it and when they moved in, it was paid for. When I went back to Salem I always went to see her. Her visits were special to me. I miss her. Her death was sudden ... she died of lung cancer, and passed away just 2 weeks after the diagnosis. What a shock. As long as I knew her she smoked only 1 cigarette per day - that's all she would allow herself. If she was down stairs in the coffee shop on her break, smoking, and Grandpa would come in, she would immediately put it out, out of respect for Grandpa. In Grandpa's words, "Helen is a SUPER SUPER person." Very few people EVER got called that by Gramps! Thank you, Helen!
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Helen! Helen Volz is her name. Mom did I spell that correctly? Maybe it's Voltz. Anyway, she is very much woven into the family memories! She died recently from cancer. My mom has some more pictures of her.
She was wonderful, but not so fun when I lost one of my Christmas checks from Gramps. Woops. Helen liked us to deposit those right away, not leave them hanging around. Once I found one years later and asked her if I could cash it. She informed me "NO", she had already replaced it with check # whatever. Shoot!
Yes, that is Helen Volz ... you spelled it correctly the first try, Jennifer (above). Helen ... oh how I loved Helen! She was truly wonderful and helped to the very end to protect Grandpa's dignity ... and money! She watched every penny as if it were her own. She wouldn't think of wasting a single cent! She would reuse files, take a letter by somewhere on her way home rather than using a stamp unnecessarily, and was a good friend to Grandpa. She respected and admired him and was loyal to him to the very end. I am sure she would much rather have retired years before, but knew that Grandpa needed her, and wouldn't leave him which allowed him to feel useful and productive far longer than he ever would have without her. After Grandpa passed on, there is no way either Jan or I could have gotten things together for the CPA and attorneys to close the estate in such an efficient manner. We would have been lost. Her record keeping was meticulous, saving the estate a considerable amount. Oh yes, Gramps paid her well, but she was invaluable. I never saw Helen in a bad mood. She always had a smile on her face. She especially lit up when her only child, Craig or his wife or her 3 grandchildren were mentioned. She adored them. Helen didn't believe in going into debt for anything ... not even a house. They lived in a small apartment above her husbands business for years and years, saving their money to build a house. They built it a little at a time as they could afford it and when they moved in, it was paid for. When I went back to Salem I always went to see her. Her visits were special to me. I miss her. Her death was sudden ... she died of lung cancer, and passed away just 2 weeks after the diagnosis. What a shock. As long as I knew her she smoked only 1 cigarette per day - that's all she would allow herself. If she was down stairs in the coffee shop on her break, smoking, and Grandpa would come in, she would immediately put it out, out of respect for Grandpa. In Grandpa's words, "Helen is a SUPER SUPER person." Very few people EVER got called that by Gramps! Thank you, Helen!
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