A life spent working hard to help others

Deepa Bharath

Helen Granneman always seemed to have abundant time and energy.

She had a smile and a listening ear for anyone who needed them.

She was everyone’s “mom” and “grandmom.”

Age was not a barrier for Helen. She got along with the oldest

senior she knew as well as she could play with a baby.

Helen was born and raised in Culver City. She was bubbly and

vivacious as a young girl. She loved to roller skate and often rode

the bus with her brother and three sisters to a roller drum in a

neighboring city.

She worked as a car hop in the late ‘40s at a drive-in restaurant.

It was fashionable back then when people liked to be served outdoors

in their cars.

Helen had wild stories from those days. She had seen tempers

flaring on the driveway. One of her customers was so mad about

something that he overturned the tray with the food. Sometimes,

people would leave behind a “penny tip,” which was the ultimate

insult to a waitress.

One of the wildest stories she told was about how one of the

managers would take leftover food from trays and toss it into the

chili pot, which would leave the girls horrified and disgusted.

But Helen treated it as just another job. She met her husband on

the job. He and his friends would frequent the restaurant. They got

married in 1948 and moved to Monterey Park. They moved to Costa Mesa

in 1960 because Helen wanted to be closer to her mother who lived

here.

They had two children. Helen was a stay-at-home mom for a few

years, but rejoined the workforce after separating from her husband

in 1967. She worked long and hard to feed, clothe and take care of

her son and daughter.

In a day when men dominated the workplace, she endured various

setbacks and put up a struggle to find and keep her job. She worked

as a machine operator, which involved a lot of lifting and moving.

She was tired when she came back home.

Helen was so tired she lay down on the floor in front of the

television after she came home. She’d nap for an hour and then wake

up and be mom again. It’s all the time she needed to recuperate.

She was a great cook. She cooked the basics -- meat, potatoes,

vegetables and salads. Nothing fancy. But the table was neatly and

properly set and dinnertime was always special.

She was simple, yet creative. She always took the extra time to do

something special for her children. When she made pancakes, she made

the bears and the bunnies with the eyes and ears. When the kids were

off to school, she’d play with their clay and they would find little

furniture, fruit and lunch boxes when they came back.

Helen was a regular at the Costa Mesa Senior Center. She drove her

black 1991 Mustang to bingo nights twice a week. She would never miss

bingo.

Helen loved to help. She thought of others more than she thought

about herself. When she saw a woman hanging out near the post office

on a cold evening, Helen went back home, brought back a few blankets

and money and gave it to her. Another time, she saw a woman at the

store who didn’t have money to buy food. Helen followed the woman out

to the parking lot and gave her the money she needed.

She could understand and relate to the struggles of others because

she had been through them herself.

At 80, she was more active than she had ever been. On Monday, she

was supposed to be at the senior center putting together earthquake

kits.

But she never made it. That morning she suffered a fatal stroke

that caused her brain to hemorrhage.