Helen and her husband had four children together, three girls and a boy. They were married nearly 30 years when Chuck was killed in a plane crash in Mexico City in 1979. The crash was all over the news and Helen’s friends and family did their best to shelter her from all the coverage.
Helen and Chuck, pictured above, at the last party they attended together.
Helen turned 80 years old in 2000 and moved in to a retirement community. It was too boring for her though! She couldn’t stand all the talk about blood pressure and gossip about ambulance visits.
That was when she decided to start writing a book and share all of her experiences. She started on an old typewriter until it broke down and her son bought her a computer. With the help of her children, “Okay, Girls – Man Your Bunks!” was published in 2006. A copy of the book can be found here. In the book Helen goes into greater detail about her experience in the WAVES, her struggle with alcoholism as an adult, and her family and marriage.
Hinges of History 