2023 Life Logs, Day 32: In Memory of Helen Marie Landers Stricklen
Date: Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Cold; High 32, Low 18 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:54 am – 4:59 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, NH
This log is dedicated to my sister Patsy and her best friend from her teenage years and beyond.
I am Facebook friends with the granddaughter of my sister’s best friend and tonight I saw a post announcing the death of that best friend, Helen Marie Landers Stricklen. In 1950, when I was two, my sister was 16, and Helen was 15, Patsy went with Bob Stricklen and Helen from West Virginia to Kentucky where they could be married legally.
Patsy was their witness and she said tonight that everyone thought that marriage would not last because Helen was too young. Well, that marriage did last and when I was growing up, Helen and Bob were neighbors. I got to see firsthand what a truly happy marriage looks like. They had two daughters, Kathy and Becky who were the ages of my nieces and nephews. Since all of my brothers and sisters were close in age to Helen and Bob, I saw them as just another brother and sister and Kathy and Becky as nieces–an extension of my family. Helen gave me my first paying job when I was in third grade. I used to iron for her at 5 cents a piece. But what Helen and Bob gave me that has lasted through the years was a glimpse of what true happiness looks like. Bob died in 2021 after 71 years of marriage to Helen, and now Helen has joined him. When I called my sister tonight to tell her of Helen’s passing, she said, “Helen was the closest to being an angel that any human can be.” I only have two photos of Helen and Patsy, one as teenage girls and one taken on Helen and Bob’s wedding day. I was a very lucky person to have known both Helen and Bob. My thoughts are with the family left behind who knew them as Nanny and PaPa.
