Helen Jane Lamphere Longendyke was a very special member of my family. While the kinship was what some would consider remote (she was my grandfather's first cousin), she had an important place in my father's early life. Helen was born in 1916 and was almost 12 years old when my father was born. She spent much of the next years at my father's home in Syracuse helping to care for him. She was there for him when his father died a few years later, and spent much time with him and the other Cady family members up at the family cottage on Lake Ontario. As time went by, she and my father Joe (Jody as she called him) drifted apart. Helen married and had a son, my father went to college, married and had two children.
My first knowledge of her was a picture I saw when I was in my twenties of my father as a young boy squirming in the front row of a large group at an outdoor setting. I noticed a young girl sitting next to him and he remembered clearly her name was Eula Lamphere and she was his age and that the picture was from a family reunion of the descendents of George Klumpp in Weedsport NY. Sitting behind the two of them in the picture was an older girl watching over them, who I later learned was Helen. Many years later, when I started researching my family, I visited the cemetery where my father's family was buried in Weedsport. I was looking at the Lamphere and Klumpp markers when the cemetery caretaker came over to ask me if he could help me find someone. I told him the name Eula Lamphere (which I never forgot) and thought he might tell me she was buried nearby, but it turns out she was alive and well and living nearby. She had never married, but I had assumed she had so I had never looked for her.
I sent her a letter introducing myself and asking if I could visit. I got an instant and insistent reply that I should come as soon as possible, that she and her sister Helen would love to meet me. Meeting Eula at her home was like meeting a long lost friend. I felt at home at once. Her sister Helen arrived a few minutes later, and upon seeing me almost had tears in her eyes. It was then I learned that she had been my father's baby sitter for those many years and had never known what became of him or the rest of the family. She was a delight! I will never forget her laughter and her love of life. I learned both she and Eula were retired teachers and also very interested in family history. Helen was also a gifted painter and I was able to see many wonderful works she had done. We visited together for hours.
My father was living in Colorado, but I was able to show her pictures of him, as well as recent pictures of the Lake Ontario cottage that we still owned. The next summer my father was able to come to Weedsport with me to meet Helen and Eula. When Helen saw my father, she went to him with open arms and hugged him SOOOO hard. It was wonderful to see. My father had never had any family that I knew of as he was the only child of two only children...and suddenly he had cousins!
We kept in touch for many years after that, and Helen and Eula were even able to revisit the Lake Ontario cottage that they hadn't seen in over 50 years. I was the one who called them when my father had heart surgery that went badly and injured his brain. When he died in 2007, Eula was at his funeral but sadly, Helen was not able to make it, having recently moved to a Senior care facility. Her sister Eula also moved there a couple years later and they had rooms within sight of each otherm where they had their books and art supplies.
In her last years, Helen's health declined, but her cheerful personality and humor remained. She loved her jigsaw puzzles, her sketchbook, and watching the world. I wish I had known that she had died, but didn't find out until 3 weeks later when I drove by the marker she and Helen bought for themselves in Weedsport cemetery. The year 2014 was filled in and fresh grass sprouting. I didn't have flowers with me, but instantly knew the right thing to do. I drove over to my father's grave and found the flower plot I had left at his grave in the spring was still blooming and pretty. I knew my what my father would want me to so, and I took the flowers and put them over on Helen's grave. I also found a small stuffed animal just sitting in the grass, not near any grave, as if it was waiting for me. Helen's love for my father as a child, and her love of her young elementary students made it seem very fitting to have that on her grave as well.
Helen - I will miss you and am so glad I got to know you. You lived a long and full life, and the world is better for you having been in it.
My first knowledge of her was a picture I saw when I was in my twenties of my father as a young boy squirming in the front row of a large group at an outdoor setting. I noticed a young girl sitting next to him and he remembered clearly her name was Eula Lamphere and she was his age and that the picture was from a family reunion of the descendents of George Klumpp in Weedsport NY. Sitting behind the two of them in the picture was an older girl watching over them, who I later learned was Helen. Many years later, when I started researching my family, I visited the cemetery where my father's family was buried in Weedsport. I was looking at the Lamphere and Klumpp markers when the cemetery caretaker came over to ask me if he could help me find someone. I told him the name Eula Lamphere (which I never forgot) and thought he might tell me she was buried nearby, but it turns out she was alive and well and living nearby. She had never married, but I had assumed she had so I had never looked for her.
I sent her a letter introducing myself and asking if I could visit. I got an instant and insistent reply that I should come as soon as possible, that she and her sister Helen would love to meet me. Meeting Eula at her home was like meeting a long lost friend. I felt at home at once. Her sister Helen arrived a few minutes later, and upon seeing me almost had tears in her eyes. It was then I learned that she had been my father's baby sitter for those many years and had never known what became of him or the rest of the family. She was a delight! I will never forget her laughter and her love of life. I learned both she and Eula were retired teachers and also very interested in family history. Helen was also a gifted painter and I was able to see many wonderful works she had done. We visited together for hours.
My father was living in Colorado, but I was able to show her pictures of him, as well as recent pictures of the Lake Ontario cottage that we still owned. The next summer my father was able to come to Weedsport with me to meet Helen and Eula. When Helen saw my father, she went to him with open arms and hugged him SOOOO hard. It was wonderful to see. My father had never had any family that I knew of as he was the only child of two only children...and suddenly he had cousins!
We kept in touch for many years after that, and Helen and Eula were even able to revisit the Lake Ontario cottage that they hadn't seen in over 50 years. I was the one who called them when my father had heart surgery that went badly and injured his brain. When he died in 2007, Eula was at his funeral but sadly, Helen was not able to make it, having recently moved to a Senior care facility. Her sister Eula also moved there a couple years later and they had rooms within sight of each otherm where they had their books and art supplies.
In her last years, Helen's health declined, but her cheerful personality and humor remained. She loved her jigsaw puzzles, her sketchbook, and watching the world. I wish I had known that she had died, but didn't find out until 3 weeks later when I drove by the marker she and Helen bought for themselves in Weedsport cemetery. The year 2014 was filled in and fresh grass sprouting. I didn't have flowers with me, but instantly knew the right thing to do. I drove over to my father's grave and found the flower plot I had left at his grave in the spring was still blooming and pretty. I knew my what my father would want me to so, and I took the flowers and put them over on Helen's grave. I also found a small stuffed animal just sitting in the grass, not near any grave, as if it was waiting for me. Helen's love for my father as a child, and her love of her young elementary students made it seem very fitting to have that on her grave as well.
Helen - I will miss you and am so glad I got to know you. You lived a long and full life, and the world is better for you having been in it.
Helen Jane Lamphere Longendyke was a very special member of my family. While the kinship was what some would consider remote (she was my grandfather's first cousin), she had an important place in my father's early life. Helen was born in 1916 and was almost 12 years old when my father was born. She spent much of the next years at my father's home in Syracuse helping to care for him. She was there for him when his father died a few years later, and spent much time with him and the other Cady family members up at the family cottage on Lake Ontario. As time went by, she and my father Joe (Jody as she called him) drifted apart. Helen married and had a son, my father went to college, married and had two children.
My first knowledge of her was a picture I saw when I was in my twenties of my father as a young boy squirming in the front row of a large group at an outdoor setting. I noticed a young girl sitting next to him and he remembered clearly her name was Eula Lamphere and she was his age and that the picture was from a family reunion of the descendents of George Klumpp in Weedsport NY. Sitting behind the two of them in the picture was an older girl watching over them, who I later learned was Helen. Many years later, when I started researching my family, I visited the cemetery where my father's family was buried in Weedsport. I was looking at the Lamphere and Klumpp markers when the cemetery caretaker came over to ask me if he could help me find someone. I told him the name Eula Lamphere (which I never forgot) and thought he might tell me she was buried nearby, but it turns out she was alive and well and living nearby. She had never married, but I had assumed she had so I had never looked for her.
I sent her a letter introducing myself and asking if I could visit. I got an instant and insistent reply that I should come as soon as possible, that she and her sister Helen would love to meet me. Meeting Eula at her home was like meeting a long lost friend. I felt at home at once. Her sister Helen arrived a few minutes later, and upon seeing me almost had tears in her eyes. It was then I learned that she had been my father's baby sitter for those many years and had never known what became of him or the rest of the family. She was a delight! I will never forget her laughter and her love of life. I learned both she and Eula were retired teachers and also very interested in family history. Helen was also a gifted painter and I was able to see many wonderful works she had done. We visited together for hours.
My father was living in Colorado, but I was able to show her pictures of him, as well as recent pictures of the Lake Ontario cottage that we still owned. The next summer my father was able to come to Weedsport with me to meet Helen and Eula. When Helen saw my father, she went to him with open arms and hugged him SOOOO hard. It was wonderful to see. My father had never had any family that I knew of as he was the only child of two only children...and suddenly he had cousins!
We kept in touch for many years after that, and Helen and Eula were even able to revisit the Lake Ontario cottage that they hadn't seen in over 50 years. I was the one who called them when my father had heart surgery that went badly and injured his brain. When he died in 2007, Eula was at his funeral but sadly, Helen was not able to make it, having recently moved to a Senior care facility. Her sister Eula also moved there a couple years later and they had rooms within sight of each otherm where they had their books and art supplies.
In her last years, Helen's health declined, but her cheerful personality and humor remained. She loved her jigsaw puzzles, her sketchbook, and watching the world. I wish I had known that she had died, but didn't find out until 3 weeks later when I drove by the marker she and Helen bought for themselves in Weedsport cemetery. The year 2014 was filled in and fresh grass sprouting. I didn't have flowers with me, but instantly knew the right thing to do. I drove over to my father's grave and found the flower plot I had left at his grave in the spring was still blooming and pretty. I knew my what my father would want me to so, and I took the flowers and put them over on Helen's grave. I also found a small stuffed animal just sitting in the grass, not near any grave, as if it was waiting for me. Helen's love for my father as a child, and her love of her young elementary students made it seem very fitting to have that on her grave as well.
Helen - I will miss you and am so glad I got to know you. You lived a long and full life, and the world is better for you having been in it.
My first knowledge of her was a picture I saw when I was in my twenties of my father as a young boy squirming in the front row of a large group at an outdoor setting. I noticed a young girl sitting next to him and he remembered clearly her name was Eula Lamphere and she was his age and that the picture was from a family reunion of the descendents of George Klumpp in Weedsport NY. Sitting behind the two of them in the picture was an older girl watching over them, who I later learned was Helen. Many years later, when I started researching my family, I visited the cemetery where my father's family was buried in Weedsport. I was looking at the Lamphere and Klumpp markers when the cemetery caretaker came over to ask me if he could help me find someone. I told him the name Eula Lamphere (which I never forgot) and thought he might tell me she was buried nearby, but it turns out she was alive and well and living nearby. She had never married, but I had assumed she had so I had never looked for her.
I sent her a letter introducing myself and asking if I could visit. I got an instant and insistent reply that I should come as soon as possible, that she and her sister Helen would love to meet me. Meeting Eula at her home was like meeting a long lost friend. I felt at home at once. Her sister Helen arrived a few minutes later, and upon seeing me almost had tears in her eyes. It was then I learned that she had been my father's baby sitter for those many years and had never known what became of him or the rest of the family. She was a delight! I will never forget her laughter and her love of life. I learned both she and Eula were retired teachers and also very interested in family history. Helen was also a gifted painter and I was able to see many wonderful works she had done. We visited together for hours.
My father was living in Colorado, but I was able to show her pictures of him, as well as recent pictures of the Lake Ontario cottage that we still owned. The next summer my father was able to come to Weedsport with me to meet Helen and Eula. When Helen saw my father, she went to him with open arms and hugged him SOOOO hard. It was wonderful to see. My father had never had any family that I knew of as he was the only child of two only children...and suddenly he had cousins!
We kept in touch for many years after that, and Helen and Eula were even able to revisit the Lake Ontario cottage that they hadn't seen in over 50 years. I was the one who called them when my father had heart surgery that went badly and injured his brain. When he died in 2007, Eula was at his funeral but sadly, Helen was not able to make it, having recently moved to a Senior care facility. Her sister Eula also moved there a couple years later and they had rooms within sight of each otherm where they had their books and art supplies.
In her last years, Helen's health declined, but her cheerful personality and humor remained. She loved her jigsaw puzzles, her sketchbook, and watching the world. I wish I had known that she had died, but didn't find out until 3 weeks later when I drove by the marker she and Helen bought for themselves in Weedsport cemetery. The year 2014 was filled in and fresh grass sprouting. I didn't have flowers with me, but instantly knew the right thing to do. I drove over to my father's grave and found the flower plot I had left at his grave in the spring was still blooming and pretty. I knew my what my father would want me to so, and I took the flowers and put them over on Helen's grave. I also found a small stuffed animal just sitting in the grass, not near any grave, as if it was waiting for me. Helen's love for my father as a child, and her love of her young elementary students made it seem very fitting to have that on her grave as well.
Helen - I will miss you and am so glad I got to know you. You lived a long and full life, and the world is better for you having been in it.
Family Members
See more Longendyke or Lamphere memorials in:
- Weedsport Rural Cemetery Longendyke or Lamphere
- Weedsport Longendyke or Lamphere
- Cayuga County Longendyke or Lamphere
- New York Longendyke or Lamphere
- USA Longendyke or Lamphere
- Find a Grave Longendyke or Lamphere
