Client Spotlight: Helen G.

The famously long-lived comedian George Burns once observed, “People ask me how to live to 100. I tell them get to 99 and be very, very careful.” SVMOW client Helen G. would put George Burns to shame, having just marked her 105th birthday in August. 

 The only daughter in a family that also had three sons, Helen recalls a “wonderful childhood” in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, growing up with an extended family that included nine male first cousins. “You can bet I was well protected,” she quips. 

 After their marriage, Helen and Jerome, a real estate broker, moved to Detroit, where they had their three sons, later re-locating to Los Angeles; she has lived in her current home near Carthay Circle for over 50 years. Helen and Jerome’s eldest son is a retired college professor; a twin son who passed was a social worker, and the surviving twin is a retired pastor. 

 So, was it all boys, all the time? Not exactly: Helen would later be blessed with five granddaughters, all of whom have advanced degrees, including one who earned a law degree at Loyola Marymount University, and another who completed a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. The eldest is a vice principal in North Carolina, who was voted Teacher of the Year. 

 Though Helen is lovely enough to have been on stage and screen, and had acting, singing and dancing lessons as a youngster growing up in Canada, she opted to work as a transcriber for Los Angeles County, serving 25 years. 

 Helen has seen her share of social changes in North American society. When she was a young actress, she recalls being asked to speak in a Japanese accent for a play.  

Despite this, Helen would not be stereotyped, and later, would study and perform Shakespeare and the classics at the Detroit Opera House. She has lived long enough to see the first African American U.S. President, and the first African American woman to lead the City of Angels. 

 The centenarian recalls with pride how she discovered she was related to civil rights icon James Lawson, a contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized at the leading teacher in the principles of nonviolence. Indeed, spirituality is key in Helen’s life, as she is a long-time member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church on Jefferson Blvd. Even the pandemic couldn’t deter her, and she joined in the weekly Bible Study over Zoom. 

 Asked whether she had a favorite Bible phrase that informs her daily life, she mentions the verse, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” noting further “if God can forgive us, we can certainly forgive others.” 

 Helen loves receiving the meals that St. Vincent Meals on Wheels delivers, especially the “kind people that bring them to my door,” adding “One thing that goes the farthest and costs the least is a friendly smile.” That, and gratitude for her family, her church and her neighbors, with whom she has forged vital connections, keeps this beautiful soul thriving at 105!