Obituary of Helen Burns-Mael

Helen Burns-Mael Helen Burns-Mael (ne: Helen Gochnauer, formerly Helen Payne, Helen Elliston, Helen Garrett, and Helen Burns) beloved Sister, Cousin, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Auntie, and friend, passed away at age 94 on April 9, 2008, from pneumonia with her daughter Shannon and granddaughter Gina at her side. Born January 1, 1914, in Portland, OR, Helen lived with her family in Othello, WA, from age 2 to age 13. After her parents' separation, Helen lived with her mother, Ina, in St. Maries, ID; Dillon, MT; and Libby, MT, until settling in Spokane where her mother started a trucking company. While attending high school in Spokane, Helen worked to help support her and her mother until her mother became ill and died when Helen was 19. Even though it was the Depression, Helen’s persistence and strong work ethic kept her employed. Her jobs included caring for an invalid woman named Mrs. Crissman, setting women’s hair for 25 cents a person, serving Maxwell House coffee in a harem outfit at the Desert Hotel, cooking in a delicatessen, making donuts in the window of Mannings on the 1st donut machine in Spokane, and being a clerk at the cosmetics counter at Kresses. Helen was planning to move to Seattle when the car in which she was riding was hit head on by a drunk driver. The accident left her with a broken neck and back, and she was hospitalized in a body cast for many months. After a year of recuperating, Helen moved to Seattle just before WWII. While working there, she was intrigued by the stories from teachers who had traveled to Alaska. Being a young woman of adventurous spirit, Helen booked passage on a steamship to Sitka to take a month vacation. That “vacation” would change her life. She arrived to find all possible accommodations filled by soldiers who were waiting for the military base to be completed. Not knowing a single soul and stranded in a strange place, she was sitting crying in the lobby of a hotel, when she remembered that the aunt and uncle of a friend from Spokane had gone to Sitka and resolved to find them. She found them staying in the attic of a local homeowner and they offered her a place to stay. Within two days of landing in Sitka, she had been offered three or four very good jobs. Within a week, she was working and had been invited to room with a local woman (Harriett) who owned two beauty shops and taught dance lessons in their spacious apartment above the Sears building. Helen worked two or three jobs at a time for a while and met many new people, who would become lifelong friends. She fell in love with Alaska: the beauty, the people, the place. She never had her vacation and after working nonstop, decided to head to Juneau for a rest. Arriving in Juneau, she checked in at the Gastineau Hotel and slept 48 hours straight from exhaustion. The next morning while eating breakfast she was asked, and when she refused, was begged to come to work at the Gastineau Hotel Café. She refused, repeatedly saying she was in Juneau for rest, but finally gave in and began work again, this time as a waitress at the Gastineau Café. She got an apartment on the stairs above Gastineau St. behind the Baronof Hotel. Invited to go downtown to meet some folks from Sitka, she was introduced to Jack Garrett, who later followed her back to Sitka. Her desired rest never came since she worked midnight to 8am and instead of sleeping , spent the rare and glorious sunny days exploring the beauty of Juneau. After a few months, Helen moved back to Sitka where she went to work for Grandma Peterson, owner of the general store, the Sitka Bazaar. Jack soon followed her and they began dating. After a few years, they moved to Anchorage and were married. In Anchorage, Helen worked at the Westward Hotel along side many incredible women who would become her lifelong friends. In those days, the wonderful waitresses of the Westward were known as the “Westward Girls.” Jack worked as bartender at the Elks Club. In 1948, Helen and Jack had a daughter, Shannon. By the time Shannon was two, Helen and Jack had separated and then divorced. Helen married Bob Burns in 1951 and they moved to Homer, AK, where Bob set up a crab cooking and processing operation on the Homer Spit and tried unsuccessfully to convince fisherman of the lucrative market to be filled by fishing King Crab in their off season. After a year of living in a shack on the spit with only one fisherman bringing in King Crab, Helen, and Bob moved briefly back to Anchorage and then to Girdwood where they ran the restaurant/hotel/bar called The Little Dipper from 1952 till 1956. Good cooks and bakers were hard to come by and hard to keep, so for much of the time Helen ended up doing most of the cooking, baking and often waited tables, tended bar when needed, and cleaned all the time. She would often bake 20 to 30 pies and 4 or 5 cakes at a time, and people from Anchorage would travel 35 miles just to visit and eat her delicious pies and cakes. She also cooked enough food and desserts to feed the bus loads of tourists which came to Girdwood on a regular basis. The Little Dipper became the community gathering place with a movie on Friday nights, dancing, box socials, and homespun theatrical productions. These were hard, but wonderful years for Helen who loved and enjoyed the people and community of Girdwood. Helen’s husband Bob was seriously injured in a car accident in 1956, and Helen ran the Little Dipper with the wonderful help of friends until Bob was out of the hospital. Bob had suffered a broken neck and spine and, though able to walk, was in tremendous pain, so the decision was made to spend a year traveling and living in Mexico. When they returned from Mexico in 1957, they lived in Anchorage, and in 1958 Helen and Bessie Miller bought The Uniform Shop on 5th Ave. between E and F streets. Bob and Helen eventually separated, though they remained friends, and Bob moved back to Mexico. Helen and Bessie later moved the store to the corner of 5th and D Street where they leased space from Paul and Marilyn Hoblett. When Paul built a new building a few years later, Helen and Bessie renamed the store “Shanteri’s.” Helen and Bessie owned and ran The Uniform Shop/Shanteri’s Women's Apparel for 25 years, eventually opening a second Shanteri’s in the Bonaface Mall. Helen and Bessie sold the stores and retired in 1983. When Helen was 70, she married Macel “Mac” Mael and they lived in Anchorage and Arizona. They were very happy and were planning to fulfill a mutual dream of traveling around America in their motor home when Mac suddenly died of a heart attack. Helen lived in her home in Anchorage until she was 79 years old and then in 1993 she moved to Olympia, Washington, to live with her daughter, Shannon. She lived with Shannon for 15 years, making more friends, attending her youngest grandson’s piano recitals, going to Unity Church, taking trips to Alaska, Utah, and Idaho to see her beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren and visit friends. When she was 88, Helen, her daughter, and her granddaughter’s family went to Disneyland and had a fabulous time. Even though Helen couldn’t ride on any of the rides, she had the thrills and scares of a lifetime being wheeled through the crowds of Disneyland by her grandchildren and great grandchildren! Helen is survived by her brother, Eugene L. Gochnauer of Lewistown, NY, daughter Shannon Garrett of Olympia, WA, her grandchildren: Gina Jensen (Reese) of Pocatello, ID, Sean Hosman (Tammie) of Bountiful, UT, and Garrett Kelly of Bountiful, UT. Her great grandchildren: Liam, Tanisha, Kira, and Kian Jensen, and Zachary, Rachael, and Joel Daniel Hosman. She is also survived by her beloved cousin, Illa Walters of Portland, OR, and beloved nieces and nephews: Helen Louise (Sissy), Jim (Bub), Dennis, Lois, and Myron.