| Notes |
Married:
- Met in early teens, Hillers mark 70th anniversary
June 20, 2007
JACKIE HAYES
(Jun 20, 2007)
Asked when he fell in love, Gordon Hiller, 93, looked at his wife, Helen, 92, with affection and replied, "I think I've always loved her."
They will mark their 70th wedding anniversary on June 26 and celebrate with an open house on Saturday afternoon at Wallenstein Bible Chapel.
He was 15 when they met at the Granite Club, where you could enjoy an evening of skating for 10 cents in 1928.
"I offered to carry her skates home, but I didn't realize it was going to be about a two-hour walk until she said she lived on Cameron Street," he recalled. On their first official date, he had to undergo inspection by her whole family, including grandparents and an aunt.
Gord admitted he also had a bit of competition, especially from a boy with a motorcycle.
They dated for seven years before tying the knot. For their honeymoon, they took a bus to Hamilton and Buffalo, where they stayed with Helen's uncle.
Gord's first job was delivering newspapers for The Record when he was 10. At 15, he landed full-time employment with Barrie Glove. After 18 years, he moved to Ball Bros. Construction and 33 years later, to Canada Post where he delivered mail for 14 years until his retirement in 1978.
Helen went to work for Cluett & Peabody at 16, making shirts and then in the office and as a switchboard operator until they married.
The first three of their 14 children arrived in quick succession, crowding their three-room flat. With a little help from his father and father-in-law, Gord scraped together $450 to buy two and a third acres of property on Guelph Street. He sold three lots and built a three-bedroom home for his family. He dug the foundation by hand and cut down 72 pine trees in a friend's bush, hauling them to the sawmill to be cut into 21 logs. They turned an acre and a half into a garden.
They had no phone until their eldest child, Joanne, went to work. They brought groceries home on a bicycle or in a wagon and lined up for the sole bathroom. The children also lined up on the stairs to scrutinize Joanne's boyfriends when they came to call.
But they had lots of fun, said their youngest daughter, Jane. They formed their own teams to play hockey on their backyard rink, joined in weekly Bible studies with their parents and friends, and enjoyed singsongs and music with their dad playing the mouth organ and their mother the piano.
The Hillers also entertained the sick and elderly at hospitals and nursing homes. Helen, who had wanted to be a nurse, took the Red Cross home-nursing course between the births of her youngest two children, and received a certificate of merit for exceptional service.
She fed elderly patients at Scott Pavilion every Sunday evening for many years and served as chair of the Waterloo Red Cross home-nursing volunteers.
A twin (her sister died), Helen only weighed 2 1/2 pounds at birth. Today, both she and Gord are the last surviving members of their families.
In retirement, Gord enjoyed golfing with the seniors at Rockway Golf Course until three years ago.
They moved from Guelph Street to Ross Avenue where they lived until moving into an assisted living home in St. Jacobs for two years. To prevent them from being separated when Helen's health deteriorated a year and a half ago, Joanne sold her home in London to look after her parents, and they rented a home in Hawkesville, close to other family members.
The Hillers eldest son, John, died of an infection at age six and Philip was killed in a car accident when he was 19. Most of their other children have settled in this area. They also have 41 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.
Among many letters of congratulations on their anniversary, the Hillers received one from Denis Comeau, ambassador with the Canadian Embassy in Thailand. Their son Michael is with the RCMP in Thailand.
Jackie Hayes is a Kitchener writer who looks at personalities, events and seniors' issues each Wednesday. Contact her at jackieh@golden.net.
Lifetimes
A true survivor
Helen Hiller
Born: June, 8, 1915 in Clifford
Died: Dec. 11, 2009 of age related illness
CLIFFORD — It was spring 1915 when sickly,
one kilogram Helen Klem was born in the
small community of Clifford. Her twin sister
Ethel had died at birth, while Helen was diagnosed
as a blue baby, so called because of a lack
of oxygen. She was not expected to survive.
They could not have been more wrong.
Helen not only survived, but lived to 94, had
14 children and was married to her beloved
Gordon Hiller for 72 years.
Helen's story is an extraordinary tale of
survival, love and devotion and plenty of
tears. And the children she leaves behind
speak of her with admiration and small tints
of frustration at the woman who both loved and hollered in equal
amounts. "They had to hold her the first year so she wouldn't cry,"
said the eldest child, Joanne Arndt of Hawksville. Perhaps the
cuddling helped the baby survive and perhaps it had some impact
on her adulthood, where she often broke into tears.
"She was very unique," said Joanne, who was her parents'
caregiver over the past four years. Daughter Jane Shantz added,
"She was feisty and so kind, she was always helping out the underdog."
Helen grew up in Kitchener, with two sisters who married but
didn't have children. Helen made up for it.
She met Gordon Hiller at the Granite Club skating rink and
when he asked if he could walk her home, the teen had no idea
what he was in for. To start with, Helen's house required a two
hour walk. "She was 13, I was 15," said Gordon. "I carried her
skates and took her home." The next surprise was that entire
family happened to be home and wanted to meet this young man.
The poor kid must have passed the muster because they stuck
together and were married, June 25, 1937.
The couple was very much in love and while both wanted children,
after Joanne was born there was a five year gap. Joanne
explained "she would say she couldn't have children."
In a clear case of being careful what you wish for, the deeply
spiritual Helen beseeched God to give her more children. And so
they came, one after the other, with several born at home until she
was the mother of 14. One son died of lockjaw at age six while another
died at 19 in an automobile crash.
Oddly, Helen was able to deal with tragedy in her life through
her faith, though there were occasionally cracks in that resolve.
Joanne explained "she was very emotional. The small things
would get to her."
The couple also didn't have a lot of money and this sometimes
caused problems with the extended family. Joanne and Jane said
their mother was ostracized because she had so many children
and this deeply affected her self-esteem. It
didn't matter, she loved children and wanted a
big family.
Before marriage, Helen worked as a receptionist
but soon became a full-time mom while
Gordon worked in various labour jobs before
becoming a postal carrier, retiring after 18
years. When they had a mere five children, the
family lived in a three room space, eventually
building a three bedroom home on Guelph
Street. It was always tight quarters, but her
children believe it helped established a closeness
that exists today.
No conversation about Helen could be complete
without noting her thriftiness. Before she
had access to a car, Helen walked everywhere,
hauling loads of groceries in a wagon and she also grew vegetables,
put up plenty of preserves and was ever diligent about
water usage, insisting several children bath in the same water
before it was finally discarded. Liz said "she didn't like to waste
anything" then added with a laugh, the kids didn't know bananas
were yellow because their mother always purchased the
less expensive overripe produce.
By the time the couple was in their 50s they could finally
afford a car at which time they also had to learn to drive and
being wonderfully democratic, one would drive to their destination
while the other drove home.
Closest to the couple's heart was their faith and when they
had issues with their own church, Helen and Gordon, along
with a couple of other large families and two bachelors, started
their own church — running services in their homes. Helen
lived by faith, eager to help anyone in distress. If she saw a
homeless person wandering, Helen would offer them a meal
and a warm place to sleep. She was also a long time Red Cross
volunteer and, along with Gordon, the musical couple often
entertained at nursing homes. Daughter Elizabeth Shantz,
recalled "if there was an elderly person dying, we'd all stand
around the bed and sing." Helen also possessed an uncanny
ability to know when people were in pain and she'd just show
up to give comfort.
And as her children married, introduced new partners, they
automatically became part of the family, never forgotten or
rejected even after a divorce or separation. Perhaps because of
the rejection she felt from her own family Helen made sure
everyone close to her felt special and she made every occasion
an event, particularly birthdays. At Christmas, everyone got a
small gift.
"She didn't want to leave anybody out," said Joanne.
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1943 - 1950 (6 years)
