Helen Seibel relates nearly a century of life's experiences
Staff writer
What does it take to live to be 100 years old?
"I'm not sure I can answer that," said Parkside Homes resident Helen Seibel, who turns 100 on Jan. 23. "I never expected to live this long."
Her only living child, LaVonne Wiens, who was present at the interview said that Helen comes from a line of long-livers.
Helen is a lifelong member of Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church and believed to be the only member of the church's congregation who has lived to be 100 years old.
Helen was born a half mile north of Ebenfeld MB Church on Jan. 23, 1904. She was the sixth of eight children born to Russian immigrants Daniel and Lena (Bekker) Eitzen.
Helen attended the country school in the Ebenfeld area and graduated from the eighth grade.
"There was no high school yet," she said.
Helen attended Tabor Academy until her parents informed her that they could not afford to send her anymore.
"Times were hard back then," Helen said. "I was needed on the farm to help out. Wheat was only 75 cents per bushel, you know."
"Times were hard, but not just for us, but for everybody," she said.
Helen reminisced about those days and told of the various jobs she worked and the prices of items in the early 1900's.
Eggs, for example, were just a few cents a dozen as compared to over a dollar per dozen today.
"I did a lot of housework," Helen said, "and I was paid $5 per week."
Working for a family who owned a bakery in Peabody, Helen made $8 per week. She did housework as well as the laundry for the family.
"I wanted to save a little money to buy curtains, because I was getting married," she said.
Helen talked about her courtship with her future husband, Sam Seibel.
"We were all neighbors around the Ebenfeld area, and early on we didn't really like each other," she said.
But through church activities of singing in the choir and going to retreats, the two began to bond.
They dated for two years, and Sam would walk Helen home, along with another couple.
"He had no car, that's why we walked everywhere," Helen said smiling.
But later, Sam bought a two-seated roadster, as Helen termed it, with window coverings that flapped in the wind.
When the couple became engaged, Sam did not give her an engagement ring like most young men gave to their fiancées. Instead, Sam gave Helen a watch for their engagement.
"I was a little disappointed," Helen said. "But he felt it was more necessary than a ring,"
On June 19, 1927, at the Ebenfeld Church, the couple were married, and Helen did receive her ring.
Helen recalled that the guests ate before the wedding and a severe rainstorm occurred during the wedding. She and Sam were not able to go home to their new farm that night, which was about four or five miles from the church, near Peabody.
They stayed with her parents until the next day because the roads were impassable.
"I'll never forget that," she said.
After Helen and Sam settled in her new home, she became a full-time housewife and also helped with the farm work.
It was harvest time and they had to shock wheat — not much of a honeymoon.
They did all their farm work with horses.
"Sam loved farming with the horses," Helen said. "Even after we were able to buy a tractor, he still liked working with horses, because he said the tractors broke down too often."
Soon the couple had their first child, a daughter Eunice, in 1928.
The couple then moved on a farm closer to Ebenfeld. Helen remembered how they had to fix up the house to live in it.
Four years later, daughter LaVonne was born in 1932.
In 1937, a son was born to the couple. His name was Samuelle. Helen had suffered complications through childbirth, and Samuelle was born an invalid.
Doctors predicted that he would live approximately seven years. It was almost to the date of his birth seven years later when he died.
Samuelle went through a series of hospital stays because of his conditions.
Helen, with the help of her daughters, took care of Samuelle throughout those years.
"I would say to myself, 'How can we do this,'" Helen said. "Only with God's help."
"He gives us the strength to accept the things we cannot change."
Full of tenacity, fire, and a jovial spirit, Helen resolved that "life must go on."
She said, "We had to go on and not give up."
One of her favorite sayings that she has learned through life's experiences is, "Keep courage — persevere."
In the late 1960s, the couple retired from farming.
In 1967, they moved even closer to Ebenfeld when they built a house across the road from the church.
"We liked the location, and we didn't want to move to town because we wanted to stay in the Ebenfeld area," Helen said.
Some time right after they retired, they took a trip to Canada.
From 1964 to 1974, Helen worked as the janitor for the church, while Sam helped her.
In 1971, at the age of 42, Eunice, her eldest, died.
During their retirement, they did some fishing and helped their daughter and son-in-law on the farm.
In 1977, the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
In February of 1978, Sam died, and in 1980, Helen moved to town.
She moved to the Uptown Apartments and lived there until 2000.
"I was never sorry I moved to town, I enjoyed it there at the apartments; I hated to leave," she said.
At age 97, Helen fell outside her apartment and broke her wrist, arm, and shoulder. She had to move to Salem Home to recuperate.
While recuperating from her fall, the doctors insisted that she not live on her own anymore.
Helen gave up her apartment that she loved and moved to Parkside Homes in 2001.
"I never thought I would live this long, and I asked the Lord for strength and to keep my mind together for the latter part of my life," she said.
Helen has her daughter and son-in-law, her seven grandchildren, and her 15 great-grandchildren to keep her busy and fulfilled during her latter days on this earth.
In celebration of her 100th birthday, Helen's family will host an open house for her at the church, and Parkside Homes will also honor her at the home.
