Helen Lawrence, a homemaker and business owner, died of stroke complications Oct. 17 at her grandson’s York, Pennsylvania, home. The White Marsh resident was 103.
Born in Nallen, West Virginia, she was the daughter of Dira Stout, a blacksmith, and Winnie Zickafoose, a mother of six who helped keep up a family farm.
She was a 1938 graduate of Nuttall High School and married her sweetheart, Chester Wayne Lawrence. They soon moved to Charleston, West Virginia, where she worked at the Woolworth Five and Ten Cent Store lunch counter.
“She remembered watching President Franklin D. Roosevelt drive through town in his convertible for a parade” while “carrying six hot dogs on one arm and dinner for 10 cents on the other,” her grandson Steven Lawrence remembered.
After hearing of the good-paying jobs at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co. in Middle River, she and her husband settled there. She assembled aircraft during World War II.
“They were given a trailer to use by her father-in-law that they often shared with sisters, brothers and friends,” her grandson said. “They hosted every family member and friend and often lent them money. They called my grandmother the ‘Bank of Baltimore.’”
She settled in Essex and worked in sales at Kay Jewelers. With her husband she sold cosmetics, antiques and security boxes, managed commercial property and even built and remodeled houses on Catherine Avenue, Wampler Road and Wrights Lane in Baltimore County; so involved that they dug wells, poured cement and put up walls.
“She was the risk taker and had the business mind,” her grandson said.
They started two laundromats, one near Al’s Seafood in Essex, and later bought the old general store at Josenhan’s Corner on Old Eastern Avenue and Back River Neck Road. She added a laundromat and a liquor store in the building.
She and her husband built a waterfront townhome on Villa Capri in Essex and later her condo in White Marsh where she would host friends.
She traveled widely to Mexico and Hawaii and cruised on the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth II.
“She held court with an open door, a full coffee pot, an even fuller fridge and a penchant for playing canasta and bridge. She liked to spar with me while watching ‘Jeopardy,’” her grandson said.
She bought a Meineke Car Care Center franchise with her grandson, opening them in Parkville, Essex and Hampden. She held the franchise until she was 98 and was the oldest franchise owner in the company’s history, her grandson said.
“She made you want to be better and to do better, she taught us how you should treat people, and she made you realize that you can do anything,” her grandson said. “She was my compass and best friend … even when I let her down.”
Services will be held at noon on Oct. 26, at the Cvach Funeral Home, 1211 Chesaco Avenue.
Survivors include her daughter, Gail Lawrence, of Frederick; a son, Gary Lawrence, of Essex; a sister, Margie Osborne, of Bradenton, Florida; two brothers, Dira Stout of King George, Virginia, and Robert Stout of Fredericksburg, Virginia; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1990.
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