Timeless Voices: Cookie Helman
Photos submitted by Helman.
Ryley Findlay
I began “Timeless Voices” because I feel it is very important to give voice to those in our community. The people that I'm interviewing have stories to tell and advice to give, and for me, it’s important to give them this opportunity to share and have people really listen. They share their journey of growing up and growing old and everything in-between. Most importantly, they share their biggest regrets and their biggest advice, to share with our youth today.
Cookie (Rosemary) Helman
Age: 77
Senior Resident of Sussex
How did you get your nickname?: “I’ve had it since I was born. My older brother gave it to me and it just stuck throughout college.”
Growing up: “My parents were immigrants from Germany, who came over separately and settled in Milwaukee.” Eventually, Cookie’s parents bought a small farm in Spencers Pass, then moved to another small farm when she was 4 years old.
Schooling: Cookie attended Willow Springs until the third grade, then moved to St. James Catholic School. “The nuns called me Rosemary,” (given name) “because they couldn’t call me Cookie.” She then went to Menomonee Falls for one year then moved over to Hamilton. Her nickname stuck all throughout high school and continued as she went to college at Oshkosh. She unfortunately had to drop out of college to support her future husband as he worked his way through dental school.
Life at Hamilton: Cookie’s story of Hamilton is especially special as she was part of the very first graduating class. Students from all over the area transferred to closer schools and yet, she only had a graduating class of roughly 140 students. It was hard because they never had a homecoming and started out with “a small everything.” They didn’t have a significantly well known football team like we have now. Looking back, Cookie still likes to get together with people she went to school with.
Relationship: Cookie met her future life partner through friends in high school, went on a double date, and the rest is history. They moved north to a small town and lived there for a few years, had two beautiful daughters, and decided to move when family health problems made it easier to relocate back to the area. They lived in Germantown for a while and decided to settle in the Sussex area closer to their family. They are happily still together as Mr. and Mrs. Helman, and Cookie was gracious enough to give some advice on building a relationship and marriage:
Not one thing alone that can make a successful marriage
Communication is just as important as anything else
Marriage has lots of ups and downs
If it were easy, you wouldn’t have divorces
You HAVE to work hard all the time
Some say you need God in your life
Jobs: Cookie “worked at Community Memorial Hospital as an aid” (CNA), had odd jobs here and there, then moved up north with her husband to work with him as his dental assistant until her daughters were born.
Greatest Adventure: Cookie’s husband is a retired Marine who served in Vietnam before the war was publicized. Almost 10 years ago, the couple flew to Germany thanks to Space-A flights (a program that lets the military fly for free). On the way there they flew on a regular plane and toured Germany for 2-3 weeks with Mr. Helman’s brother and wife. On the way back, however, they got to “fly on a big plane that, underneath were all the big bulldozers, and up above was where we sat. It was like a cargo plane and we had to wear earphones because the sound was so bad. We paid for box lunch, and it was the funniest experience I’d ever had.”
Advice to High School Students:
Follow your dream because there's so many other things out there.
Don’t let other things get in the way of what you want to do.
Education is so important.
Biggest Regret: Not finishing college education. Cookie went to college for elementary education but unfortunately had to drop out.
Nowadays: Cookie finds many ways to keep busy, mostly in the form of service for others. She has found fulfillment through volunteering at the food pantry in Sussex and keeping active participation in her Christian faith. She is also the co-chair for the thrift sale at St. James Church. Cookie always tries to give extra to needy places (ideally not Goodwill). “There's different ways to help others, we don’t realize how many needy people are out there. Sussex isn’t perfect.”
“Whatever your goal is in life, you can achieve that. I still fulfilled what I wanted to do in other ways. You don’t always need a pat on the back or a newspaper ad; you can do that silently.”
