AMICK, HELEN ARLENE March 25, 1946 Age 21 Paris DNB

HELEN B AMICK/JOHNSTON, b. May 12, 1924 Guernsey Co, Ohio, d. March 25, 1946 Jeep accident

WAC Sgt. A-608449 1400^th Army Air Force Base Unit

Buried Epinal American Cemetery, France

Parents: Amos & Leli Johnston
Siblings: Della, Amos Lee, Thelma

Helen is the only female on the Memorial Plaque.

This was a real research project to locate the right trail on this family or to plain figure out if and when Helen was an Amick or a Johnston. You do this to make you have the correct information on a particular person. Genealogy research is generally fraught with difficulties on spelling of names, people having similar names, but this was more complex. Problems lie largely with her mother, Leli or Lela nee Church. She seems to have been married three times, twice widowed, once separated.

 Mother Lela Gertrude Church born 1898 in Cambridge, Ohio. Her first recorded marriage was Aug 30, 1913 age 18 to Amos Daniel Johnston age 24 in Guernsey Co., Ohio. Amos was born in Bridgeport, Ohio and had a sister Della and brother Samuel. Amos registered for the draft in 1917 showing he was born in Bridgeport 1887 and had a wife and one child. In 1920 they lived in Toledo, Lucas Co, he a glassworker.  Also living with him were Leli, Della age 5, and Amos Lee age 2. Details are important when tracked people with the same names.

Lela Johnson next shows up in 1930 marrying Frank Amick in Ohio Co., West Virginia. In the 1930 census she lives with Frank at 1273 Stinson along with Thelma Amick 9, Helen Amick 6 and nephew Amos Johnston and niece Della Johnston.  This census column shows the relation to the head of household, namely Frank. They were Lela’s children from the first marriage.

Wait, there’s more! Frank dies Dec 11, 1939 when an auto struck the safety zone (trolley median in the center of the road) at Warwick and Grand River in Detroit; he is buried at White Chapel Cemetery. The on April 3, 1940 Lela married Charlie Houston Grace in Henry Co., Ohio; her maiden name on the marriage license as church). Charlie is 11 years her junior.

Now here’s the kicker - Amos David Johnston was still around, until March 2, 1946 when he dies in West Virginia. Noted on the grave information is his mother Anne Johnston and that he was married to Lela Church but separated. His grave is unmarked.

In 1949 Charlie and Lela lived in Hesperia, MI, which is her address on the 1950 gravestone record for Helen. Charlie is buried in Paducah, KY; he was born in Calvert, KY

In 1940 Helen lived at 15065 Stout (home demolished) with her mother and sister; she graduated from Redford in June 1943. She enlisted in Detroit on May 17, 1944 in Women’s Army Corp as a Pvt. As written in a Redford Outpost article, Helen was very active in the glee clubs and sang in the Bushnell Congregational choir.

There is a family history on Helen’s Find-A-Grave site which seems largely accurate. Brother Amos Lee died Nov 1944 in Ohio of an accidental fund shot wound. Sister Thelma’s first husband died 1945 in Germany. And Helen was stationed in London during the war but afterward transferred to Paris. A family history tells the story that Helen she had gone to arrange passage for her dog; on her return trip her jeep ran into a stone wall and she was killed.