A bit about Helen

August 8, 1907: Helen Haupt Koprek born on this day.

Helen was born in Bochum, Germany to Gustave and Augusta (Kontrowitz) Haupt. Gustave was born in Julienbruch, East Prussia in 1873. That town is now located inside of a Russian colony on the Baltic Sea called Kaliningrad. Helen’s father was listed as a constable for Bochum in 1913. He left to find a home in the United States on the ship Montfort from Antwerp and arrived in Quebec City on June 18th, 1914; going on to Illinois from there.

A few weeks later his wife Augusta gathered up their girls and boarded the last ship out of Amsterdam prior to the closing down of shipping lanes in 1914 (due to the Great War). Augusta almost had to leave the baby Frieda behind with friends as they were afraid that she had pink eye and would not be allowed on the ship SS Ruthenia (aka SS Lake Champlain). Augusta eventually managed to get her on board with the rest of her daughters.

Helen was about seven years old when she made that ocean crossing. She remembered the sailors giving and the other children herring as a treat out of some barrels. I found a jar of pickled herring in her refrigerator once and tried it. Definitely an acquired taste! One of the adult passengers would grab her hands and whirl her round and round on the open deck, suspending her over the ocean as she flew past the railing.

When they got to Quebec City, Canada on August 12, 1914, she did not recognize her father because he was wearing overalls. She had only seen him in a suit. Chewing gum was new to her, too. This photo is probably from about 1923 when Helen was 16, which would have been around the era of the Charleston dance step--which she taught me!

She married Frederick Albert Koprek in July of 1928 and a son was born two years later. She loved to dance the polka at family gatherings and sang harmony in the church choir (Lutheran, of course LOL). I remember her singing this song: https://youtu.be/fQ9VYpxKtFk

She worried about everything but I kind of miss her nervous Nelly attitude.

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

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