Lee,

You did miss out on a lot of the fun with our cousins growing up..... I

will try to fill you in some.  Walt was always the preacher type.  He speaks

slowly,  like he is deliberating over every word before he says it.  He is

more reserved, and yes, a little harder to get to know.   Walt was a little

dry, and didn't have the fun loving spirit, and devilish agitating spirit

that Sheldon was so well known for.  Sheldon had the humor for both of them.

But Walt has a big heart, and is a loving person when you get to know him.

When I think of Sheldon, I think of all the jokes he told, some funny and

some sort of corny, but he loved telling jokes.   My parents and Sheldon and

Hazel used to take weekends and travel into Wisconsin frequently.  They

always had a good time.  I think Sheldon's and Walt's were at my folks home

about 3, maybe 4 nights a week.  Mom always had Dad make coffee, and serve

cheese and crackers.  Those were the best years of my life, just joining in

with those old aunts and uncles and my parents.  Hazel always tried to

reform Sheldon, to make a refined gentleman out of him.  But she never got

the job done.

Then Uncle Gail and Aunt Bernice moved to Savanna.  Wow... was this ever the greatest....  We congregated at there home a lot after they moved.   I had really got to know and love Uncle Gail when I was in the midst of my first divorce, and living with my parents.  Uncle Gail came to stay with my folks and we became best of friends.  I went through some pretty hard times, and it was my Uncle Gail who sat up with me and listened to me talk.   He should have been a therapist.  He had a gift for helping someone who was troubled.  I will never forget how he helped me with his wisdom and understanding.  Uncle Gail had a fun loving happy spirit, but he also had a capacity to understand and a gift of wisdom.  What a really special Uncle.

After I lost my mother, and uncle Sheldon lost Hazel, I spent a lot of time at his home just visiting and watching television.  We were both grieving our losses and it was comforting to not be alone.   I loved this old man dearly.  Uncle Sheldon and Uncle Gail were known as the peacemakers of the family.  Anytime there was a disagreement in the family, they set out to resolve the conflict.  They wouldn't quit until they wore the other party down and thought they had brought peace and harmony back into the family.  Just before Uncle Gail died, he had planned a big Helle reunion.  He had invitations made to send out, not sure if he lived long enough to mail them, but I think he did.  He had a regular program all planned.  Uncle Walt and Aunt Alice were to sing and my parents were to sing, and the family was to sing.  Well one night all impromptu, we all happened to go to visit at Gail and Bernices,,, Sheldon's, Walt's my parents, my sister Carol and I.  Even more strange, Linda, Jeannie and Marigail all showed up on the same night as well.  Bernice played the organ and all were rehearsing for Uncle Gail's program.  Joe and Stanley and his wife, Lorraine, all came as well.  Joe brought a tape recorder and turned it on.  Little did we know this would be our last Helle gathering before Uncle Gail left us with his heart attack.   The tape recording was played at the reunion that Uncle Gail had planned.  But it wasn't the same.  He wasn't there.

I could write a book about my Aunts and Uncles.  Uncle Royal played every

musical instrument known to mankind,  and even the saw.  He and I wrote back

and forth in poetry for years.  My mother, sisters, and even my daughter got

involved in this poetic letter writing.  I think my mother was blessed ten

fold with these brothers of hers.  I will tell you a little story about when

Uncle Royal died, that probably no one in the family has heard.  My son,

Dan, was a very sensitive child. He was in high school at the time.   One

afternoon he came home from school and the first thing he said when he

walked into the house was "Uncle Royal died today, didn't he."   My mom said

"Yes, Danny, but how did you know?"   He told her he had been sitting in

study hall with his head on the desk, when he saw a vision of Uncle Royal

standing on a cloud in the sky.  He was waving his saw.  Dan knew that Uncle

Royal was saying good-by.  The timing of Royal's death and the vision that

Dan saw was the same.

I remember our visits at Delbert and Nellies.  A warm house full of love and family.  I always looked forward to going to visit.  I spent a lot of time with Phyllis in the summers.   I remember when we had just turned 13, and were believed to be too old to play with dolls.  We locked the door of the bedroom and got out our paper dolls.  Phyllis had a happy, fun loving spirit.   She was like a sister to me.  We all missed out by her early death.    I remember when Delbert and Nellie drove to Rockford Illinois to see my mother in the hospital.  She was very ill, but so were they.   Here comes Delbert into the room, pushing Nellie in the wheel chair.  Such a special couple.

This is the kind of family we came from, and I feel we are greatly blessed to have been part of this great family.  I also feel like we all owe it to the memories of these wonderful people to pass on the lessons we learned from them onto our children and grandchildren.  The most significant legacy I feel we have to pass on is unconditional acceptance of one another and a peace loving spirit of harmony.   Anyway this is what I learned from my family....  A wonderful bunch, who made the world a better place just by living here.

I remember at Uncle Royals funeral, my daughter, Lorilei, was taking her Uncles loss pretty hard.  Everyone knew of the special friendship Lorilei had with Uncle Royal.  Uncle Lloyd came over to her and said, "I know I can't take his place, but I am here for you, and I will try."   Uncle Lloyd didn't say a lot, but when he spoke it was from his heart.  Lorilei and I did make trips to visit Uncle Lloyd.  Such a sweet, loving man.  He is greatly missed.

We didn't see as much of Uncle Don.  He passed before his time in a tragic accident.  Don was the hunter, and another very special soul.  A great loss to our family.   He was a gentle, kind, easy going man, who was dedicated to his family.

Love,

Sharon