The Senior Storybook: A Collection of Life Stories from Anschutz Community Elders

By Senior Storybook

A collection of stories from Seniors as told by students of the Anschutz medical campus. Stories are told by patients of the University of Colorado Seniors Clinic and are true as told by the patients.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Senior Storybook
• Release date: Apr 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869301963

Book preview

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A Message for All Mankind: The Creation of Babi Yar Park

Written by: Grace Hanson

     Helen J. Ginsburg wouldn’t change a thing about her life, she happily recounts. As a Denver native, there was nowhere else she’d rather live. Born in 1934, she has seen the world change in remarkable ways and has been a driving force of change herself. Growing up, her family first lived in the west side of town where she began school at Cheltenham Elementary, only to be held back in kindergarten for one year. Being quite small in stature, her kindergarten teacher felt it would go better for Helen Joy if she were closer in size to the rest of the class.  Moving several more times, she also attended Alameda and Steadman Elementary Schools, Smiley Jr. High and finally, East High, from which she graduated. Though her story began being impacted by her small size, little Helen Joy Singer would show Denver and the rest of the United States what a big impact she would have.   

    At fifteen, she began working at Baker Shoes on Lawrence and 16th Street where a fancy pair of high heels could be purchased for $11.00. Still in high school, she would then move on up the street to Duplers on 16th and Welton where she modeled furs and sold high-end women's wear. While there, and only eighteen, she eventually met and married her husband, Denverite Morris Ginsburg, who was in the military.  Because her family didn’t have the funds to send her to college, she simply entered the working world for a salaried ‘continuing education’ as a secretary to several attorneys. With a satisfied grin, Helen admitted she had by then discovered she was a capable young woman who enjoyed the various new and challenging opportunities that working presented. She also found out she was soon to be a mother.

    When daughter Marla and son Noel were in their teens, she again delved into the workplace where her passion and pleasure for work led her to excel in many fields. She worked as a Relocation Director for a real estate agency.  Then came PR and HR for a group of banks and the creation of several art pieces for Temple Sinai, all while testing her creative ability as a writer, actor, and sculptor.  A quintuple heart surgery survivor, she then authored From the Heart: Overcoming the Mental and Physical Trauma of Open Heart Surgery, which became a fundraiser for the American Heart Association of Colorado. Helen became Colorado’s first female spokesperson for that organization. 

     When asked about what she is proudest of in her life, Helen stated it would be as