by Bea Peterson
The Valentine’s Day Birthday Celebration scheduled for February 14 at the Grafton Senior Center had to be postponed because of a snowstorm that made traveling almost impossible. The celebration was held on Friday, February 21, however, with balloons, a great dinner, birthday cake and table favors in honor of anyone celebrating a birthday in February. And there were plenty of folks celebrating February birthdays! Among them was Helen (Babcock) Ellett who is now 100 years old!
[private]Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino attended the luncheon and presented Helen with a certificate from the County honoring her for one hundred years and expressing appreciation to her for all her years of service to her community. Jimino said many other County and State officials had planned to attend the
party on February 14, but their schedules did not permit them being there on February 21. Helen did receive congratulations from many of them, including Congressman Chris Gibson.
Helen was honored on Sunday, February 16, her actual 100th birthday, at a surprise party given by her family. Her daughter, Connie Alderman, grandchildren, Bill Alderman and Linda Laveway, and great-grandchildren, Heather, Caitlin, Jayme, Keri and Dan, were there. Helen also has four great-great-grandchildren.
Linda Laveway wrote that Helen’s parents are the late Frank and Frieda Babcock. Her father was the Grafton Town Clerk for 30 years, and her mother ran a boarding home for people wishing to escape the complicated city life of NYC to enjoy a bit of country life. Like most children of that era Helen’s school years were very simplistic. They walked or cross country skied to school in the little one room school house, now the Grafton Post Office.
In 1943 Helen was a fire observer at the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower. She rode her horse eight miles to and from work every day. Helen was one of the State’s few female fire observers.
In 1948 Helen founded the Grafton Trail Riders along with eight other avid riders and close friends. The small group soon secured the property and coordinated hair raising and bone chilling horse shows that were held in a make shift arena at the Barnhardt field, now part of Helen’s property. In the little acre field Helen, along with a few friends, worked endlessly to put on many, many events to pay for the meeting house. She was always so proud of what they had built with years of hard work. Helen rode her horse Smoky for miles on Grafton trails and back roads. Sometimes she would pack a lunch and head to Vermont or Massachusetts using trails and old tote roads. It was never surprising to see her come back with something tied to her saddle, a sapling tree to replant or maybe an old tractor seat! Each ride was an adventure!
Helen worked at the State of NY campus for many years, in addition to the fire tower work. She also worked for a short time at RPI. After closing the chapter on horseback riding and trail blazing, she took up snowmobiling and loved to ride with the Grafton Snowmobile Club. When many riders were in front of the fireplace on cold winter nights Helen was often heading down the mountain to Pittstown on a snowmobile excursion of her own. She never worried about the danger. She only focused on the fun she had with her little blue Snowjet! Helen was also an avid hunter and fisherman. She loved to deer hunt and spent many hours hunting with her late husband Chester and son-in-law Larry. Fishing off the coast of Padre Island in Texas and clamming and fishing in the Rhode Island bay were some of her best memories.
Helen attributes her great health to staying active and eating garlic! [/private]