Relatively Speaking Blog

One might call my Aunt Helen a character. She was part of the Brown family after all. Like many of her siblings, Aunt Helen and her husband Uncle June would often joke around and make others laugh. They seemed made for each other.

Helen was born January 27, 1926, in White Township, Indiana County, PA. She was the ninth child and youngest daughter of Charles and Lucy Swank Brown. Her full name was Helen Louise Palmetto Brown, and when Helen was little and asked what her name was, she replied “Helen Tomato.” Knowing Helen, I wonder if she might have done this for a laugh.

In 1998, I had the opportunity to videotape Helen and three of her sisters, Silveretta, Mazie, and Betty.  During the hour I asked them about growing up. They grew up outside Indiana PA near the old county home, or what they referred to as the farm. This property had gardens and a barn, and all the kids had chores to complete. They all remembered outings the family would take on Sundays and Holidays. Their parents would pack up sandwiches, drinks, and other items for a picnic and off they would all go in a car for the day. These excursions were at different parks around southwestern PA.

Helen and some of her siblings were sometimes mischievous. Helen related she and her little brother, Bucky, snuck off to a place they were told not to go. Her father went looking for them and found her but not Bucky. She was told she would get a spanking when she got home. But when she arrived home, there was company, and she escaped that punishment.

They all remembered a time when Helen was dragged by her dad’s car when she was 7 years old. For some reason she was pushing the car, and after it was moving, she was unable to loosen her grip from the car’s bumper. Her father unaware, started down the road. A car pulled up beside him, honking and waving and told him, “there’s a child hanging off your car.” He stopped, and Helen, able to pull her hand free but afraid of being in trouble, ran all the way home, about a mile. Her legs were badly skinned and bleeding. They called the doctor, something only done for emergencies.

Helen attended school and started in the same one room schoolhouse as Bucky, and a couple of her older siblings. She and Bucky would hop the freight train home from school when it was moving slowly enough to catch; they would sometimes throw coal off the cars for heat for the house. She quit school after completing the ninth grade and likely went to work taking whatever job she could get hired for. In the 1950 census, Helen lived at home, and she worked in a leather factory where she operated a glue machine.

Helen and June, whose full name was Clyde Smith Lydick were married in 1951. Helen’s brother Alvin was married to June’s sister, Vera. After Helen and June’s only daughter was born in 1957, the family moved to Erie PA. They lived there while I was growing up, so I have no memories of the Lydick family during that time. I cannot recall what year Helen and June moved back to the Indiana area, but when I was an adult, I usually saw them when my family would visit the old homestead.

Uncle June died on September 13, 1996. Their daughter had moved out of state, but would visit, especially around September when we held our annual reunion. At this event, we held an auction to raise money for the cost of the reunion. During the bidding, Helen was notorious for saying, “I’ll raise a nickel.” Sometimes she would splurge and make it a dime.

Helen was my last surviving aunt, and my mom and I would visit her once or twice a year. She had many old pictures from her sisters’ house. Probably taken by my Aunt Susie, these photographs were either family or friends she visited. Helen did not know the people in most of the pictures, but she let me borrow some pictures so I could scan them. I was able to scan only a portion of these before she died on January 6, 2010. She is buried beside June in Greenwood Cemetery.

Watching the video of my four aunts is still entertaining and enjoyable to see how these sisters interacted with each other and shared memories they had. I have a great fondness for all of them. They are certainly missed at our family reunions. Each year, at least once during the auction, as a tribute to Aunt Helen, someone will call out, “I’ll raise a nickel.”

From her childhood adventures and throughout her adult life, Helen always had a strong connection to her family. She was devoted, not only as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, but as a sister and an aunt. Her warmth and joking nature brought joy into the lives of others. Helen is someone who will always be remembered.