Earl Helfers was one of 9 children whose family lived on a self-sufficient farm in south central Illinois. His father was a self-made jack-of-all-trades (electrician, plumber, surveyor, builder, businessman) who led the way in introducing electricity to area farms through the REA (Rural Electrification Administration). In 1941, he married Beulah Daniels. They had one daughter, Sharon Harmer, who is currently a SRA member. Earl has 2 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Earl worked in all levels in education (teaching Kindergarten through college, principal of a city school, and County Superintendent) as well as assorted summer jobs (Revere factory, Shell Oil, military, Cheley Camp) and a short stint as a geographer at the Pentagon. He and Beulah lived in southern and central Illinois until their retirement; at that point, they moved to Florida. Both of them liked to travel and Earl loved to drive.
The first time Earl came to Estes Park was in 1937 on the way to California. He thought it was a hick town; the sidewalks downtown were boards and store signs competed with each other by sticking out of the buildings. Later, he and Beulah came to Estes as a part of their honeymoon trip. In the 1950's, they worked at Cheley Camp. When Beulah remarked that it would be nice to have a home in Estes, they went to a real estate agent in Estes and ended up buying a home in the Rocky Mountain National Park from people who wintered in the same town they did (Decatur, Illinois). Although they bought the cabin in 1956, they didn't use it much for about 10 years. There have been 2 additions to the home, each about as big as the original cabin.
The Helfers joined SRA in 1969. Earl called the President of the club and the President referred Earl to one of the members. That member (Will Ferguson) came to the house, visiting with the Helfers for about an hour. He then took them to a breakfast and it seemed that Earl and Beulah were voted in right there. Earl and Beulah socialized with SRA members outside of the dinners; they would play bridge with members quite regularly and have couples at their home for parties.
Earl remembered the SRA dinners as being major events. When they first joined, Beulah would wear a long dress and hat to the dinner. The men wore coats and a number would even wear tuxedoes. However, that gradually disappeared. Programs were both social and educational. One of the programs was about Japan; people wore Japanese clothes. In another program, Earl made a lot of easels for the program, each having a picture on it. The members could take the easel and picture home. Later SRA began to have musical programs more frequently; Mildred Bohnsack would organize members of the club into complicated musical productions.
SRA breakfasts were held all along Devil's Gulch Road. Among those were Stutz, who had a teepee on his land, as well as the Rood's and McCreeless'. At one of the breakfasts (Marge and Don Rymer—Devil's Gulch) the sheriff came. He just drove in after having seen all of the cars and wondering what it was. SRA invited him to stay for breakfast, and he did. Along Route 7 there were also a number of sites. One time at Lily Lake, a German student who was visiting my Sharon "helped" us park cars. He directed cars out over stumps and logs, resulting in a fair amount of difficulty getting some of them back out.
Earl had seen a number of changes in the SRA. One of the biggest changes was the addition of hiking; members had always done that on their own. As for the breakfasts, he remembered moving all the furniture at every breakfast. Usually the men would do the moving and it was just a little too much for some of them. The cooking equipment was old when he and Beulah joined. There were only one or two people who could operate it and invariably something would break down; the group was very scotchy when it came to buying new equipment. There was one period in SRA when people felt the club was big enough and shouldn't take in any new members. Earl had seen major changes in Estes Park as well. Today it is much more modernized and beautified with trees, flowers and statues. Back in 1937, the town reminded him of an old town with no one in charge of anything and all businesses competing with advertising signs. He remembered a number of businesses from the earlier years. The store he visited most was the hardware store downtown where one could get almost anything one wanted in the line of hardware. The people in the store were very friendly and gave very good service. He and Beulah particularly enjoyed the Plantation restaurant in the middle of town which was famous for its gooseberry pie. If you wanted to see your friends, you could go there in the evening and always find someone you knew. Beulah did most of the shopping and liked Brody's grocery. It was a typical old-time grocery where they cut their own meat and sold their own eggs. The owner was very friendly as was his meat cutter. Another popular place was the root beer drive-in which is now a parking lot near the newspaper. It was open longer hours than other places in town. Earl and Beulah went to the downtown Presbyterian church, which was the big church in town. The minister was related to someone the Helfers knew in southern Illinois and Earl taught Sunday School classes there. Located where the "old church" shops are currently, the church moved because there was inadequate room for expansion as well as insufficient parking for members.
Locally, Earl and Beulah were well acquainted with Ernie Altick who was a mainstay of Cheley Camp and owned the Western Brands store downtown. Ernie had come out to Illinois to interview the Helfers prior to their working at Cheley Camp. At Cheley Camp, Ernie was one who could answer any question. He was tall with had a deep voice that carried forever. At Cheley, he would come out early in the morning and say, "Oh what a beautiful morning in Colorado". It was repeated a number of times and could be heard all over the camp.
Earl spent his summers at his home in the Rocky Mountain National Park for almost 40 years until passing away in 2005. Beulah died in 1990. The home is now owned by their daughter, Sharon Harmer.