By Clary Croft, 2026
When you write as many books and articles as Helen did, it is only natural that she would have worn out a few typewriters.
At a recent visit to the wonderful LaHave River Books, I remembered seeing from past visits a grey typewriter displayed on one of the rafters with a sign saying it once belonged to Helen. I asked Andra and Gael if they could verify the provenance – if this was, indeed, one of Helen’s little grey workhorses. They did some sleuthing and came back with the answer that it had been give to the store by a lady named Gloria who had said it was gifted to her by Helen’s niece, Nancy O’Brien.
With this information, I contacted Nancy’s step-son, Ron O’Brien, and he, in turn, sent the information on to Nancy’s daughter, Jane. As you can see it generated a pretty convincing proof line to the authenticity of the typewriter. …..
Ron immediately wrote back: “Nancy had a bunch of typewriters that were well passed their best before dates. Gloria, who died a couple of years ago, was a very trusted longtime friend who Nancy hired through her bookstore (Minerva) back in the ‘70’s. I believe the story to be true.”
And just as quickly came this from Nancy’s daughter, Jane: “My mother was indeed a very close friend of Gloria’s. … My mother spent a lot of time with Aunt Helen and Helen would have known of her interest in typewriters. Gloria lived in LaHave for over 50 years – if my memory serves – worked at the bakery for some years and was a very well-known fixture in the community. If Gloria gifted this as a typewriter formerly used by Aunt Helen, I’m sure she was correct.”
Next, I contacted Evergreen House and the collections manager, Shannon Baxter, said the current typewriter on display on Helen’s desk in the parlour is also one of the authentic typewriters. She said an option could be for the bookstore to donate theirs to the Museum but, since they already had one and the bookstore’s would not be on display unless something happened to the other, it might also be an option to have it on display in LaHave and spread the typewriter family around.
And the final decision – “Don’t we all love a good detective story? Thanks for the update! And we will now continue to hold the typewriter high up on the shelf in Helen’s honour. All best. Andra.
So, should you find yourself along the beautiful LaHave River and want to drop in and see this object that was the subject of a well researched detective tale, visit Gael and Andra: LaHave River Books
