MARIA THERESA "TRACY" HELLE was the sixth child of a family of thirteen children of Frederick and Katharine Frances (Krauser) Helle. According to diaries kept by Tracy, daughter, Alta, and sister, Dena and information gathered from various relatives and friends, Tracy was a very quiet, hard-working woman. She received numerous letters and beautiful cards from her many relatives and friends. Many of these are in the possession of her oldest grandchild, Ava (Helle) Boyce. Tracy was especially close to her older sister, Dena Kuehn, and a younger sister, Kate Blout. Sister Kate lived a mile south and part of their family farms joined each other. As teenagers, Dena and Tracy spent some of their spare time picking wild blackberries which were traded at a grocery store in Smithfield for necessary items. One frivolous purchase was a beautiful glass candy or square cake dish with a glass cover which has been handed down through the generations. The girls gave it to their mother. Dena had it for quite some time and then gave it to Tracy who gave it to her daughter, Alta. Alta gave it to her oldest daughter, Ava (Helle) Boyce. The diaries kept by Tracy give details of a quiet farm woman's life in the early 1900's. Her greatest enjoyment was listening to an old Edison Phonograph in earlier years and listening to the radio from 1926 on. She had a record collection that would be the envy of her great - grandchildren in the stereo era. Several hundred cylinder records have survived the years. Many hours were spent on necessary sewing construction. All dresses, slips, underwear, towels, household items and baby layette were hand-constructed. She made numerous quilts, crocheted bed spreads, table cloths, dresser scarves for her own household as well as gifts for neighbors, friends and relatives. She crocheted rugs in 1926 which a great - grandson and wife used as "mud rugs" in 1980. A great - granddaughter uses one of Tracy's crocheted bedspreads as a sofa throw in her home in 1985. These items were made to be used and used! Tracy's marriage to ROBERT SHERMAN "SHERM" FOUTS made at least four different publications according to newspaper clippings kept by her sister, Dena Kuehn:
"Sherman Fouts and Miss Tracy Helle were married in Lewistown on Monday, Dec. 16, 1895. The TIMES (London Mills Times) extends its warmest congratulations and trusts that Mr. and Mrs. Fouts may have a pleasant journy down life's pathway. "There were some aggravating circumstances to these young people connected with the above event, and it isn't exactly telling tales out of school for the writer to tell them now that they have ended happily. The wedding was to have taken place at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. Fred Helle, south east of here, on Sunday. The license, a necessary adjunct to such an event, was sent for early in the week preceding. Sunday morning at last came, but the license came not, yet the parties thought probably some other member of the family had received the precious document out of the office and would bring it with them. The guests arrived, Squire Mitchell among the number, he coming to officiate. The wedding dinner was ready, and then it was discovered that the license had really not been received at all. Two friends were immediately dispatched to Lewistown to find out what caused the delay and to bring the lost paper. When they arrived there they found both the clerk and his deputy out of the city spending Sunday with relatives. They learned, however, that the license had been issued in regular form and mailed on Wednesday. With this unsatisfactory news they returned to Mr. Helle's and the guests and the Squire were obliged to return home, having eaten of the wedding dinner but having failed to witness the ceremony and kiss the bride. (Sharon Bearce)