Walter Helle - "During one night in December 1921, a little sister was born. She was a pretty girl with beautiful dark hair and dark eyes whom we all loved from the start. She was a real treat after so many boys. We always called her Toots, but her real name was Charlotte. My mother was so proud of her two little girls. As they grew up she would play and sing with them. To this day, when I hear "Jingle Bells", a lump rises in my throat and I can see and hear Mother and those sweet little girls singing so happily."

Ethel Helle: "Growing up without the girl playmates, I learned to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country. I would entertain myself with sewing, not needing a lot of people around all the time. Charlotte, on the other hand, is quite the socialite. She usually has a houseful of people and goes visiting a lot. Even though we do not look alike, nor like the same things, we have abound that sisters have, that is very special."

Shawn Lovejoy: "My fondest memories are of my grandmother Charlotte. I have always credited my humor and love of life to being to being her grandson. I always felt such a close bond with her. Something she once told me has always stuck with me and been a primary philosophy in raising my children "You make each and every one feel as if he is your favorite and make each one feel special". I think that says a lot about her and the kind of woman she was."

Excerpts from Charlotte's story from "As I remember my Life": "I was named Miss Chicago by my older brothers, because I had a fiery temper, but I think I had to have so I wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. With ten older brothers, I think I nearly did anyway. I really was blessed. I grew up with my first years on a farm, the 12th child of George and Ida Kaler Helle. Above me were ten brothers and one sister. Tagging along the 13thwasmy sister June. We all write some. Many of us dabble in poetry. There's lots of music in the family. I remember my childhood on the farm. Thirteen of us kids, Mom and Pop and my maternal grandmother. Pop was German. Probably one of the most loving pops in the world. Thirteen of us, and he never spanked a one of us. Mom and Pop must have had cast iron nerves. We had a long dining room table. It had to be to seat 15 of us. My younger sister and four or five brothers and I used to play bear around the table. We chased around that table, whooping and hollering. It was a noisy game, but usually it tired us out to where we went right to sleep at bedtime. We always had a parlor. In this parlor was a piano. Winter nights, Mom played the piano, Pop the fiddle, most of us sang. My older brothers played their musical instruments. Delbert played the violin, Royle about any instrument.. Don played the fiddle. Walter played an accordion. Verle played the violin. Gail played a horn in the high school band. Very memorable childhoods, eating eggs by the dozens at Easter; homemade root beer; Pop trading lumber for sorghum; homemade clothes; hair put up on rags for curlers; going barefoot on the farm; milking cows; Dad on the threshing runs; big meals put on by women for the thresher crews; homemade ice-cream; listening to Joe Lewis prizefights on the car radio's with our brothers and friends; charivaree when Don got married; the friends we made as we grew up and when we were in high school. Yes it has been a grand life and a great family."

Charlotte and Harrison knew how have fun and enjoy life. They sang all the time, and they loved to dance. Some of their songs were funny, and I think these are what their children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews enjoyed the most. Shawn recalls a memory: "What I remember most fondly is when they sang "Dreaming tonight of my Blue Eyes." Grandma Charlotte's part was to cry, in a comical way that had us all rolling on the floor."  (Sharon Bearce)