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Note: moved several times during the 1920's and 1930's, from El Paso to Lexington. She graduated from Lexington High School in 1934, after winning the faster typist contest at the County Fair that previous year. She did not like the outdoors or the farm life, and determined to work as a secretary in Bloomington as soon as she could. She had two sisters, older sis Violet (Oct. 3, 1914 - Dec. 11, 1985), younger sister Alice (Feb. 10, 1918) and a brother Raymond (March 14, 1913 who was killed in the Second World War in Germany, Jan. 20, 1945). An infant sister Mary Jane died in 1919.
Helen loved beautiful, bright-colored clothes, jewelry, and shoes. She was always decorating her home, then changing her mind and wanting it to look different. She had thick, dark hair and a thin, small frame. She loved to bake and could do pies, cakes, and exotic desserts from scratch. Her recipe book was much prized and passed on to her daughters Judy, Kathleen, and Peggy.
In 1935, she began seeing a young man four years older in Lexington, Virgil Rockwell, whose family owned the first automobile in the town when his father was young. They had a sawmill business and were very impressed with the beautiful and fashionable girl who made everyone laugh with her sassy talk. She liked the idea of moving into town and getting away from the farm, and they were married in 1936 in the nearby city of Bloomington, where they secured their license at the McLean County Courthouse.
No children were born for 7 years. The young couple decided to move to Chicago in 1938 to make a great deal more money, and both worked there and lived until 1945. Virgil ran a service station at a busy business corner in Oak Park, a suburb there, and Helen worked as a secretary at Wiebolt's , a large department store home office. When World War Two began, Helen was expecting her first baby, a daughter Judith Marie born June 10, 1942 in Oak Park Hospital. Virgil made much more money at a war production factory, but he still managed the service station also. Their son Thomas Kendall Rockwell was born on May 23, 1944. They rented a large apartment on Kenilworth Avenue with a doorman, a janitor, and a cleaning service.
When the war ended, they decided to move down to Bloomington, which had about 40,000 people then, and daughter Kathleen was born in July 30, 1946 when they lived at 510 North Lee, Bloomington. Virgil began a trucking business and was gone much of the time.
The couple divorced in 1947 and Helen went to work at State Farm Home Office Insurance Company until she was married in August to Harry Buhl, a carpenter from Downs, Illinois. They had a daughter Peggy on November 24, 1948. They lived on Lee street until they bought a house at 804 W. Oakland Ave. in Bloomington in 1955, where they lived until the mid 1980's. They bought a home out in the country by LeRoy where Harry built on a large family room when he was 70 years old. He proved to be a responsible and good stepfather to Helen's three children, and they felt it was their father dying when he passed away there on August 23, 1995 from lung cancer.
Helen died three months later from a stomach tumor after having a serious stroke in 1975, but regaining her speech and being able to travel in their motor home to Minnesota, Texas, and campgrounds in the midwest. She had five grandchildren:
Judith's children: Jennifer, March 14, 1964 Santa Barbara,CA. Jonathan April 24, 1967, Santa Barbara Tom's son: Thomas Kendall Rockwell, II, Dec. 28, 1973 Kathleen: no children Peggy: Kenton Mitchell Abner, Jan. 3, 1970 Megan Lynn , Feb. 25, 1972
Note: BIOGRAPHY: Helen grew up on farms in central Illinois. Her family
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