Helen
in pictures
Gene Stickley'sWorld
Helen in Pictures
Helen as Mrs. George Phillips Stickley 1929
In this photo Helen would have been about age 25. The earliest photo I have of Helen is in the group on the beach. John & Ann's Children
Jackie Rabinowitz (Daisy's daughter) thinks the beach photo was about 1923.
This studio portrait of Helen was created when she was about age 40-42. Helen was a working woman during the later part of World War II and into the years beyond. She was the head of the household of two boys and one young man as George returned from service in Europe.
Sometime during this early postwar period we moved from Philadelphia to the Jersey seashore.
Helen always wanted to live "down the shore" as Philadelphians put it. We moved to Ventnor which is the next town down the beach from Atlantic City. For the young people this was the old, pre-casino Atlantic City.
Helen was back in Philadelphia by late 1954. George had graduated from Rutgers in 1953. I graduated in 1954 but went directly into the Air Force. Jack had entered the US Army in 1954, the draft was still on. So it was Helen and George who relocated from New Jersey to Philadelphia. But her desire to be "down the shore" persisted.
Helen, age 42, in Ventnor, N.J.
In addition to "down the shore" Helen had another dream: to be a musical entertainer. Later in life she remarried. Her choice? an entertainer of course. She met a man named Jack Oberman who was a widower and an entertainer. Jack was a classically trained pianist but made a living with popular music.
After marrying Jack and Helen relocated to--"down the shore" of course. This time it was the Beach Haven area. Helen quickly became the featured vocalist at a local cafe which used her new "handle" as the headline in their newspaper advertising. Helen had arrived. Both dreams had come true. Better late than never!