THE ROADS WE'VE TRAVELED -- Interview with Helen Love

Please introduce yourself, tell us when and where you were born, and what you recall about your childhood.

My name is Helen Josephine Turner. I was born in Lake Forest, Georgia on August 25th, 1919. My mother-- she was a laundress-- and when she came to Philadelphia she started doing housework and laundry. I remember her washing at night and hanging the clothes in the house. We had lines in the house and she would wash and--they call it a wash board, and she would wash that way, and rinse the clothes. And if they had to be bleached or anything, they had a long container that they would put on the wood stove. The damp clothing, I think the wash and hanging them in the house--she got pneumonia. And they didn't have the treatment for pneumonia then like they have now. And she was getting better and I remember her going to the front door talking to a neighbor when she got up and it was too early, or whatever, and she got double pneumonia. And I remember my family talking about if--the doctor had told her--if she lasted over nine days she would make it. But she didn't, and that was a--I was about eight. My aunt lived on the same street and she took us, the three of us. Now, my relatives, some of the others, my uncles wanted one of us, and they wanted to split us up, and my aunt said, "No, I'm gonna try to raise these children together." And she did a beautiful job. It had to be very serious when we went to the doctor. Just a natural cold or something, we um, my aunt would give us castor oil, Father John's, home remedies like the boiling of onion and syrup together making a concoction, you know. In fact, we had to eat onion most every night and another thing--cod liver oil. That was given to us. If you know anything about that, it was awful. It was awful.

When did you begin dating?

My aunt was very very strict, even when we got old enough to have company. If we would meet a young fellow on Sunday, by Monday my aunt would know his history. If he wasn't the type of guy she wanted, I mean, she had in mind, he had to go. There was no seeing of that young man anymore. Dating wasn't easy because in our church, even-- we would stay all day Sunday-- and even between the services the girls were allowed to go in the back, in the yard. The boys were allowed out front. It was not until my husband went in the service and he wrote back and asked my uncle could he have me as his wife.

This is Jim and I, our wedding day. He came home from the service. We had a church wedding. And, this was a friend of Jim's and the little girl here was the flower girl. She had red and white and blue flowers. The little boy, he was dressed as a soldier too. The men folks, they were all in the service and what they did is performed before I came in some of the drills. And then my uncle brought me in. And that's the way--we were that way for fifty-four years. There he is there on our fiftieth anniversary. The Lord blessed us with one son. And it has been wonderful.

How did you experience the civil rights movement? What has changed regarding civil rights in your lifetime?

I have really experienced only one incident before the civil rights movement. My sister and her husband took me with them on a trip from Philadelphia to Texas. And travelling, when it got night time, we were trying to find a place to lodge and we had to go miles and miles and miles before we found a place that we could stay over night because they had signs along the highway. We looked for a sign that said "Colored."

Describe your educational experience.

I would like to show you my picture from the yearbook and what it said. You know they write something about you: "William Penn High School. Helen Josephine Turner. My pen name was Pee Wee. That's when I lived on 21st Street. Hobbies: Singing and Skating. Future: Teaching somebody's naughty children. Two helping hands, a cheery smile. These make Helen a friend worth while. Good things come in small packages and Helen is certainly the proof of this statement. Small and sweet she is admired for her ability in gym. Published by the Class of June 1936."

What were your professional ambitions when you were young?

I wanted to be a teacher. I had applied for Morgan State College. My aunt got sick and when she got sick I had to stay home with her, so that fell through and we didn't have any money anyway.

What are you doing now?

What I'm doing now? I'm tutoring children from kindergarten. I read to them, teach them their ABCs, and then we do some hand work or something--make small things, coloring. When I introduced myself at the Experience Corps, when we were in training, I said to them first, after thirty-five years, I'm back where I wanted to go thirty-five years ago. I think this is the last phase in my life. It's like a dream coming true to me because it was my desire to teach. Teaching the children is the last phase in my life. I'm ready to close my eyes now.