Helen (Mader) Beeler
1920 – 1969
Helen was the last child and the only living daughter of Joseph and Angeline Mader. The “baby sister” of five brothers, Helen was born on February 17, 1920.
When Helen was eleven, her father Joseph passed away before he and Angeline could celebrate the coming 25th wedding anniversary. They had planned to take Helen along on a trip to New York and New Jersey. Helen still wanted to go so Angeline, Helen and Ben took the train to Newark, NJ to stay with their mother’s sister, Sister Cordulana. Ben remembers they made 3-4 trips into N.Y.C. and went on a Hudson boat trip to West Point.
Like most of the Maders, Helen was quiet and easy-going. Ben found her a job at National Tea on 6th and 8th Sts. in La Crosse. Helen worked there as a check out girl for about seven years. She did spend at least a winter in Washington D.C. living in her own house until she moved back to La Crosse in the spring of 1946.
Helen at age 26 married Lester Beeler in La Crosse ca., 1947. Lester was from Tennessee and was stationed at Camp McCoy near Sparta. After the marriage, they lived for several years in Lawrensburg, Tenn. where their son William was born. The family moved back to La Crosse and lived with Helen’s mother Angeline on 13th St. to care for her in her reclining years.
They were the parents of one more child, Mary. Lester was a warehouse foreman for Peter Nelson. After Angeline’s death in 1955, Helen and Lester purchased the Mader family home from her brother John.
Helen suffered a stroke in the late 1950’s from which she never fully recovered. She passed away in October 1969 at the age of 49. Lester later remarried, when he died he left the house to his children Bill and Mary.
- William Beeler was born in Tennessee ca 1947. He is an electrician working for Kish and Sons Electric Co.. Bill recently became married. He and his Genny live in Onalaska.
- Mary Beeler married Harold Bynum. Mary sells real estate in Florida. They are the parents of one son.
- Bryan Bynum