Orville Hale and Helen, with their young son Tom, moved to Santa Paula in 1956, and shortly after Helen joined the SPESD.“I had one month at Bedell and Barbara Webster, but McKevett,” wanted her to stay, and now Helen has seen over a dozen district superintendents come and go, noted her biography.When not visiting with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Helen sews, cooks, does wonderful crafts and thinks almost constantly of “getting kids educated!”Helen has a unique position on SPESD staff: “She roams,” said district Public Information Officer Pat Untiedt. “Helen has a wealth of information for these children, and when she goes into a classroom they just clamor to hear what she has to say.”Helen offers district students special projects, such as “how to blow out eggs and decorate them and how to make bread using her 100-year-old butter churn,” Untiedt noted. “Helen is a fascinating lady,” who continues to fascinate the children of Santa Paula.
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Helen Hale cuts a birthday cake at a recent party for her at the Santa Paula Elementary School District Office. Photo by Pat Untiedt |
Helen Hale celebrates 90th birthday, still SPESD teacher
May 10, 2002
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesHelen Boully Hale wasn’t born until after Santa Paula, now celebrating its centennial year, was incorporated, but her birth came almost a decade later to the day, April 30, 1912: and now Hale and hearty Helen has celebrated her 90th birthday, still teaching - and teaching the unusual - in the Santa Paula Elementary School District.“Helen is a remarkable woman,” said Pam Colvard. “She still teaches every day with much of her supplies furnished by her own generosity.”Indeed, Helen is so remarkable that she was honored as a 1996 Santa Paula Woman of History.She was born into a large - nine siblings - family who lived on a farm in Oklahoma, and found her calling of education - the “center of my life” - early on, according to her Woman of History biography.Her parents had attained only 3rd grade educations, but eventually Helen and four of her sisters became teachers. By age 9, Helen was teaching other children the basics of education behind a chicken house: she still believes that the basics are what the most important.Helen’s first paid teaching job paid $65 monthly and the rules in those days included no bobbed hair, no dancing and no marriage. She broke all the rules, including marriage 1937 to childhood family friend.
