Laura Morris, Louise Anderson
Grandma Doris, Grandpa Trig, Richard Helleoid
100th brthday - April 10, 2011
I was recently in Minnesota, where Laura and I flew home to celebrate the life of her father, “Trig” Helleloid. He died peacefully after a short illness not so many weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday. Trig was the son of Norwegian immigrants who settled on the wind-swept prairie of northwestern Minnesota. He lived through fascinating times and his story echoes that of so many Americans of his generation.
From horse and buggy days to space travel, from the arrival of electricity and telephone service in rural America to instant world-wide communication – his generation of millions of fellow immigrant children experienced amazing change and progress in the American story being woven like a patchwork quilt across the cities and towns of the nation.
Trig’s father died when he was just a boy and he was raised in a blended family of mother, uncle, siblings and cousins before blended families were the norm. Always bright and quick with figures, he finished high school at a young age and went to seek his fortune in the “metropolis” of Minneapolis just prior to the Great Depression. He attended a business college along with several siblings. He found work in the flour milling industry and was quickly promoted as executives valued his work ethic, financial insight, fairness and integrity, and the respect shown to all employees. By age 29 he was the general manager of the Springfield Milling Company where he worked for 36 years. Life in this Minnesota prairie town of several thousand citizens was not unlike Trig – stable, dependable, supportive and sufficient.
By age 33 he finally got around to wooing the good-looking young home economics teacher who had moved to town. He and Doris McCracken were married in 1946 and would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary next month. Children Richard, Laura and Louise came along not long after. They raised their family in a small, but comfortable three-bedroom brick home. He often walked the eight blocks to and from work – including a trip home for the fully cooked noon meal that Doris prepared. His lunch hour, punctuated by blasts at 12 and 1 from the town whistle, also included a daily ten-minute nap on the couch. An early adopter of the “power nap!”
Trig’s recipe for success in life was simple. Always salting away for a rainy day, living below your means, and appreciating having “enough” while serving those around you were lessons learned young and never forgotten. I can attest that he passed those traits along to each of his children and I see those values now passing to his grandchildren (eight of them) as they enter early adulthood. He highly valued education and saved every penny needed to guarantee that all three of his children could graduate from college. Now, most of his grandchildren have completed college and some of them advanced degrees – all living interesting, contributory lives in careers unimaginable 100 years ago.
While so many small farming towns have withered up like dry prairie grass in an August sun, Springfield has remained a vibrant community, due in large measure to Trig and neighbors like him who have constantly nurtured it, protected it and made it better for those that followed. Helping found an excellent golf club, chartering a Rotary Club he would serve in for many decades, volunteering with Boy Scouts, and serving as a treasurer for the library board were just a few of his stewardship activities. His friendly nature and respect for others drew many other recruits to pitch in for worthy causes in Springfield. He was active in the Springfield United Methodist Church, always ready to serve others in need.
I remember driving to Springfield as a nervous 21 year-old college senior. It may seem old-fashioned, but Laura and I felt it proper that I request permission from Trig for us to marry. I had little to offer Laura but love, hope for a bright future and a future big medical school debt. Laura was working as a teacher and would be supporting me for four years. To our delight, he gave us his permission and blessing – but not without some important advice: “Marriage is for a long time – to love each other for life, you must always treat each other with respect.” A simple, important truth – one that he lived each day in his own wonderful marriage with Doris.
As we have raised our own three children, we have been guided by Trig’s journey in life. Our children have been blessed to know “Grandpa and Grandma” and have them involved in their lives. Trips to Springfield were times of fun, warmth, love and peace. We will miss him. I will miss him. We thank God for the life he shared with us and with all those he cared dearly for.
