Bio: Helm, Mr. and Mrs. Louis – Granton Sr. Citizens (1979)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Helm, Garbisch, Roosevelt

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 8/30/1979

Mr. and Mr. Louis Helm – Granton Sr. Citizens (1979)

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Helm of the village of Granton were named the winders in a contest held this past month in the Granton area to select the grandparents of the year. They were nominated by their granddaughter, Heidi Helm, Chili, in a contest sponsored by the Granton FFA Alumni.

Sunday, September 9, is the second national grandparents day in America and this is the day of the Granton Fall Festival Parade. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Helm and their granddaughter, Heidi, will ride in a buggy pulled by a team of horses in the parade.

Heidi’s letter stated, “My grandparents have lived in the Granton community all their lives and farmed on the corner of Highway 10 and ‘W’. The weekend of the Fall Festival is their 50th wedding anniversary.”

Louis Helm and Adelia Garbisch were married September 8, 1929, and farmed in the Town of Lynn until 1970, when they moved to the village of Granton. They have four sons, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Their sons are Walter, who farms near Chili; Norman, who sells real estate in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Roland, who is guidance counselor at Cedarburg High School; and Eldon, who farms the home farm.

The Helms were active in the Poplar Grove School, which their children attended; in Zion Lutheran Church, Granton, which they attend; and on the Town of Lynn board.

The Helm’s related some interesting facts. They spent their honeymoon filling silo as 1929 was the beginning of t he Depression years and they had little money. Highway 10 was cemented in 1931 when their first son, Walter, was born. The day after Norman, their second son was born, March 3, 1933, President Roosevelt closed all the banks. The day their third son, Roland, was born, July 15, 1937, The Granton Bank was robbed.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Helm, Louis’s parents, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary the year their fourth son, Eldon, was born.

Since 1970, Adelia has worked on four family history books, which required numerous trips to cemeteries and writing to relatives for information. Now her hobby is to make each grandchild a pieced quilt and a pair of embroidered pillowcases. Louie’s hobby is to “putter around” and make frequent trips to the farm to help his sons.