Bold Spirit - Linda Hunt [88]
The surge in United States scholarship on women in the West after the first Women’s West Conference in 1983 provided thought-provoking resources. I am especially indebted to Washington State University historian Susan Armitage for her generous guidance and to Gonzaga University professor Sandra Wilson for her timely comments while I was writing my doctoral dissertation on Helga’s historic walk. Scholars of regional history, particularly in Washington and Minnesota, opened windows to Helga’s world—most notably, Carlos Schwantes’ writings on Coxey’s march and early Spokane labor history, the graduate work of Nancy Engle on the Spokane suffrage movement, and Jeff Rettman on the harsher side of life in early Spokane Falls. Arlene Coulson provided exceptional research assistance gathering legal documents on Helga and Ole’s life during the Spokane years, and Joan Hinkemeyer assisted with valuable resources on Colorado. Tillie Olsen’s book Silences started my initial thinking on the silencing of family stories that surrounded all aspects of Helga’s walk. I am also delighted with the innovative National History Day Association that helps teachers introduce middle-school and high-school students to the thrill of historical research; their sponsorship of the Washington State History Day Contest led to my discovery of Helga’s story.
Helga’s immediate extended family enthusiastically shared what little information, pictures, memories, and artifacts remain. Granddaughter Thelma Portch kept Helga’s story alive with oral history and gave me the greatest glimpse of her grandmother’s remarkable spirit. Helga’s great-granddaughter and husband, Dorothy and Daryll Bahr, recognized the treasure they held and enriched their children’s awareness of family heritage. I am thankful their son, Doug, wrote such an engaging essay for the Washington State History Day Contest, and for their daughter, Darillyn’s, excellent high-school essay on her great-great-grandmother. Granddaughter Norma Lee shared important artifacts that offered another window into Helga’s life, and Wanda Estby Michalek, a granddaughter-in-law, brought memories surrounding the Mica Creek home. We are all beholden to Margaret Estby, a daughter-in-law, who secretly saved the Minnesota newspaper clippings that captured Helga and Clara’s achievement and that she shared these with Thelma. Without this one act of defiance, Helga’s story would have been lost forever to her extended family. Each family member added an important remnant to this story and brought pleasure to the research with their sustained interest in recovering Helga’s story. They became keepers of the story and want her memory to endure, as they have discovered its power in their own heritage.
I am fortunate that editor Ivar Nelson, another persevering Scandinavian, brought his own considerable curiosity, astute editorial questions, and thoughtful critique to this manuscript—as well as bringing the skills of the professionals at the University of Idaho Press. I am grateful for the talent, commitment, and creativity of Pat Stien, a professor emeritus in theater from Whitworth College, as we present dramatic reenactments of Helga’s story to historical associations, museums, and women’s groups. Her motto to “trust the story” as we dramatized the historical truth of Helga’s adventure bore witness as we saw the depth of audience response to the many layers of Helga’s life and to the silencing that followed her walk across America. Karlene Arguinchona, Judy Bergen, Jeri Jo Carstairs, Adam Cleaveland, Marianne Frase, Laurie Lamon, Doris Liebert, Zsuzsa Londe, Judy Palpant, Pam Parker, Annie Russell, George Scott, Monika Skerbelis, Dale Soden, and Ronald White, each offered important gifts of encouragement