“God doesn’t give you the people you want,
he gives you the people you need.
To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you
and to make you the person you were meant to be.”
Helen’s faith was always apparent in her life. Her firm belief gave her a great deal of strength to cope with the many highs and lows life had to offer.
Helen Christine was born on Wednesday, December 27, 1933 in Derby Township to Milton Edmunds and Eleanor (Elliott) Bartman. Helen’s parents were married September 14, 1932 and she was the eldest of four children: Helen; Gordon; William “Bill”; and Lenore. When Helen was quite young the family moved to Hanover and she soon attended the Red School (James A. Magee). Like most children of her era Helen did not have the opportunity to go to high school.
Once out of school, Helen began her working career at the old Dickies plant. However, it was here that she quickly realized she was terribly allergic to wool and lasted only two days. She then went onto work at Triple K, a veneer manufacturer, where she patched the veneer together. After being a stay at home mom for 24 years, she returned to the workforce and was employed at Knetchel’s Furniture for several years. Funny enough, Helen’s career ended as it started, working just two days at Norm’s Restaurant, as her body struggled with the demands of standing too long while cooking!
Early on Helen caught the eye of one Earl Harron. However, unfortunately the feelings weren’t mutual, as she preferred Earl’s older brother, Milton. With that said the rest is history as the couple enjoyed a short courtship and then eloped to be married by the Justice of the Peace. It was December 23, 1953. Milton was the son of Stanley Grenville and Harriet “Hattie” Marina (Jackson) Harron and was born October 22, 1918 in Tara. He had been previously married to Marion Evelyn Smith and thus Helen had a ready-made family with step-children Milton James Duncan and Arleita Laurena. The couple quickly welcomed their own children into their midst: Alvin John in November 1954; Lorne Stanley in January of 1956; Katherine Elaine in October of 1957; Ronald William in June of 1959; Betty Anne Christine in February of 1961; Andrew James Jackson in April of 1964; and little Norma Jean Helen in March of 1966.
A really cute story is told of how the Harron family always had two pigs, Edith and Ethel. Each year the elder animals were replaced with two new piglets. Can you imagine their names? … you guessed it! Edith and Ethel. Mom used to serve bologna for meals purchased as the large roll. She would slice it and then put it on our plates just like she was dealing cards. Sometimes she hit the plates and sometimes she didn’t. The Harron kids also recalled their annual spring haircut… imagine! Mom would always start with good intentions however the end product was usually a buzz cut… at least for the boys!
Milton’s family was very musical and they even played on the “Circle 8 Ranch” program on the radio. Helen came to both appreciate and develop a musical talent herself as she loved to sing. When able to listen to music Helen preferred gospel and old time country with artists like Jim Reeves, Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard. Helen was always active reading her Bible, Harlequin Romances and pretty much any novel she could get her hands on. She loved to knit, often making mitts, hats and sweaters for her family. Her talents didn’t end there as she was an avid gardener and a fabulous cook with her specialties being her Christmas cake and homemade soup (especially chicken noodle) and pies. Christmas time was a favourite of Helen’s as it combined her birthday, their anniversary and of course, Christmas whereby she was always surrounded by friends and family. Watching TV was a great pastime in her later years – Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Dr. Joyce Myers provided her with a wealth of knowledge that she often tried to pass onto her family-“How’s that working for you?”
Helen’s drink of choice was tea and always served black. Ask the boys how many boxes of Red Rose and Orange Pekoe they bought for their mother over the years! She loved not only to make, but also to eat, soup in addition to enjoying chicken, fish and chips and most specifically Salmon. The children recalled many trips to Harrison Park and back around through Port Elgin, and a visit to Lake Huron, on the way home. Helen also had a natural talent for art and she was great at using pastels and crayons to draw. What would she do with her creations you ask? … gave them away of course!
To describe Helen takes a number of adjectives: honest; faithful; a great communicator; very charitable; and nonsensical. She lived how she believed yet did not push her beliefs on others. As one grandchild put it, “Grandma was for real.” She had a personalized message for every one – it was the same message just using different words for each individual personality.
One great life lesson she gave her family was to “mind your money….don’t owe anything to anyone.” The Golden Rule, “Treat everyone as you would want to be treated.” was also often repeated by Helen. Then of course, there were the Ten Commandments. More great life rules to live by! In turn, Helen was greatly influenced, not only by scripture, but also by Rev. Purdy in her younger years, “100 Huntley Street,” and “The 700 Prayer Club.” She was introduced to religion as a child and it never left her side. Her faith was deep and abiding. However, she was also smart enough to know that one did not always have to go to church to have a powerful faith or to be spiritual. Her giving also included being an officer with the Salvation Army in her youth.
It is very possible that the strength of Helen’s faith enabled her to say, and believe, that her pain was nothing in comparison to the pain of others.” And if anyone knew pain, it was Helen. In addition to being widowed, little comes close to the pain of outliving your children and grandchild, which Helen experienced.
Helen’s journey came to an end on Sunday, March 5, 2017 as she went home to be with her Lord.
Beloved mother of Alvin (Joan) of London, Kate Charlton of Chesley, Ron (Linda), Betty (Randy) Hutton and Andy (Cathy), all of Hanover. Helen will be sadly missed by her eleven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, sister Lenore Hunter of Durham, sisters-in-law Leanna Bartman of Hamilton, Florence Bartman of Carlsruhe and their families. Helen was predeceased by husband Milton, children Lorne and Norma Harron, step-children Jim and Arleita Harron, brothers Bill and Gordon Bartman, son-in-law Harry Charlton and granddaughter Christine Harron.
Cremation has taken place and a funeral service celebrating Helen’s life will be held at the Hanover Missionary Church on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at 11 a.m. Inurnment in Hanover Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Hanover Missionary Church would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
“God judges us by our thoughts and deeds, not by what others say about us.”
Helen’s son Alvin offers a lovely, and cute, remembrance of a wintery day, once upon a time. . . .
The Winter of ‘73
It was just before Christmas in 1973. We were living at Weppler’s farm out on Concession Two. It had been storming for a few days and it was blowing so hard you could barely see the porch light at night. You had to cover your face against the sting of the pelting snow. It had snowed about 2 feet. Half of the quarter mile long laneway was drifted across about waist deep on Mom. I was in my late teens.
It was a Friday night and Mom and Dad did their weekly grocery shopping. When they came home they backed into the swamp from the road, about half-way up the laneway. Lorne and I took the toboggans up the laneway to meet Mom and Dad to take the groceries to the house. We piled the boxes on the toboggans and all started walking toward the house. Mom and I were in the lead with Dad and Lorne behind.
It was storming so hard that Mom couldn’t see and stepped off the footpath and landed in snow up to her waist. She couldn’t move her legs to get herself out. I was trying to pull Mom up out of the snow, but I couldn’t. I took the boxes of groceries off the toboggan. Next I pulled the toboggan up under Mom’s butt so she could lift her legs and rolled her over onto the toboggan. Then I piled the boxes of groceries between her legs and on top of her and that’s how we got to the house that day.
After that, Dad would tease her about it and she would get upset. As time went on she developed a sense of humor about it. But, I’ll never forget that day. Mom couldn’t believe I pulled her and the groceries to the house.
