As a junior in high school, Alexander Fitch wrote the following excerpts for a living history social studies assignment. The assignment included interviews with his grandmother "Mutti," who had just turned 80.
Helen Frederick refers to her childhood as a scene from The Grapes of Wrath. Before she turned 10, her father, Albert Moore, died leaving his wife, Fern, and five children. Just a few months later the stock market crashed, bringing the country into the Great Depression. Helen and her sister Evelyn were the youngest. There were times when Fern had to put her two youngest children in an orphanage. Helen does not remember this as a bad place. Dozens of other kids just like her, whose parents could not afford to keep their children, lived in this orphanage.
The years up to high school were of turmoil. The family traveled looking for work. By the time the family reached Yakima, Helen says, “We were dirt poor.” During the summers the family would move down to the Tri-Cities to harvest the produce and pick hops and then move back to Yakima for the winter.
At 21, Helen married George Feitush, a young entrepreneur who had started a restaurant called The Donut Shop. For the first time in her life, Helen found financial stability. She considered it a huge leap from the little girl who almost froze on her walks to school. Helen and George had two daughters, Vickie and Kim. Helen’s first home had a tennis court in the back yard, and this started a life-long passion for tennis. Helen remained in that home for fifty years.
Later in life, Helen married Frank Frederick. They enjoyed twenty-five years doing such activities as starting a gourmet group, traveling around the world, and taking up hobbies like golf, bridge, and doubles’ tennis. After Franks’ recent death, Helen is alone for the first time in her life. Today Helen lives a peaceful life. She enjoys talking to her three wonderful grandchildren, Summer, Susannah and Alex. She excitedly awaits the birth of her first great-grandchild, Fletcher. Helen still keeps in touch with her best friend and only remaining sibling, Evelyn. (1924-2007)
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