HELEN MILLER BROWN - 9 March 1935 - 22 May 1982
Memories.......
Anne Sinclair and Helen Monteith went on a working holiday to Australia in 1957. Anne recalls how Helen was great to travel with as she never got harassed or upset. She remembers taking a long train trip through the middle of Australia and it was very hot and dusty. They were tired and continually swotting flies all day. Anne recalls how she was bad tempered and needed to vent some anger and try as she might Helen being so placid did not even retaliate.
They got to Sydney and Anne did office work and Helen got a job in a parking lot, where she drove flash cars all day to their registered parks.
After Sydney they went on to Melbourne where Helen worked in a tyre factory and Anne worked for Darrell Lee candy stores.
Helen came back to New Zealand as she was bridesmaid for Dot and Ted McDowall and Anne linked up with Margaret Quill and Maureen Chaplin.
Anne recalls in 1956 Owen Brown, Ross Church, Bruce Cockroft and Bob Harrington all travelling to Melbourne for the Olympic Games.
Janice Brown said that she got to know Helen when they were both working girls, Janice at Lands and Survey and Helen at Education Department. They formed a strong friendship that lasted until the day Helen died. Janice would spend most weekends with Helen going to watch Rugby and Indoor Basketball. Janice recalls that when they went to basketball tournaments in a minivan – Helen would always drive, to such places as Greymouth and Nelson.
Janice recalls Helen ringing her a lot a work when she was at home with the children and reporting certain sporting events that had happened.
Helen loved to draw, and Janice said she once drew a birthday card for her mother and it showed a picture of Janice’s mother digging in the garden and her father behind her with a whip in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. It was typical of Helen’s sense of humor as Janice’s father hated gardening and her mother always did it.
Anne Sinclair and Helen Monteith went on a working holiday to Australia in 1957. Anne recalls how Helen was great to travel with as she never got harassed or upset. She remembers taking a long train trip through the middle of Australia and it was very hot and dusty. They were tired and continually swotting flies all day. Anne recalls how she was bad tempered and needed to vent some anger and try as she might Helen being so placid did not even retaliate.
They got to Sydney and Anne did office work and Helen got a job in a parking lot, where she drove flash cars all day to their registered parks.
After Sydney they went on to Melbourne where Helen worked in a tyre factory and Anne worked for Darrell Lee candy stores.
Helen came back to New Zealand as she was bridesmaid for Dot and Ted McDowall and Anne linked up with Margaret Quill and Maureen Chaplin.
Anne recalls in 1956 Owen Brown, Ross Church, Bruce Cockroft and Bob Harrington all travelling to Melbourne for the Olympic Games.
Janice Brown said that she got to know Helen when they were both working girls, Janice at Lands and Survey and Helen at Education Department. They formed a strong friendship that lasted until the day Helen died. Janice would spend most weekends with Helen going to watch Rugby and Indoor Basketball. Janice recalls that when they went to basketball tournaments in a minivan – Helen would always drive, to such places as Greymouth and Nelson.
Janice recalls Helen ringing her a lot a work when she was at home with the children and reporting certain sporting events that had happened.
Helen loved to draw, and Janice said she once drew a birthday card for her mother and it showed a picture of Janice’s mother digging in the garden and her father behind her with a whip in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. It was typical of Helen’s sense of humor as Janice’s father hated gardening and her mother always did it.
Helen was a great drawer and when she left school she worked at the Education Board drawing plans. With her great sense of humor she loved to draw cartoon like drawings with a story behind them. The above drawing is one of her good friend, Barbara Murray's mother. Apparently she use to were "easies" and use to find it hard to get out of them at night. She had to put her leg up on a stool to get them off - it was a joke amongst the girls and Helen of course had draw it.