Helen-Chantal Pike

Jun 13, 2012 7:55 AM EDT

Love this Helen. Your history is my history and you are doing a great job. As I told you, I think, my son is a poet and I would love to read great grandmothers poetry. Thank you for doing this research.

- Judy Coletta

Jun 13, 2012 3:44 PM EDT

As you know, we grew up next to Harley Pike and his wife and experience many aspects of his "uniqueness". One day, I did a favor for Harley and he paid me generously in maple syrup....however, as we went into the basement to get my reward, he poured it into a tumber of about 6 or 8 ounces and insisted I drink the entire glass. I love maple syrup but 6 or 8 ounces was a bit excessive. I was about 8 or 9 at the time and never understood that custom. We all have stories about him and great memories...perhaps I will share more of them with you Helen...

- kevin lemire

Jun 14, 2012 7:22 AM EDT

Aren't We All Unfinished?

Yes, we are ALL unfinished. But only those lucky ones with the desire, gusto and courage to dig deeper and uncover what lies beneath will reach some form of completion.

Your couragous journey to find the answers to your questions about your father and your family continues to inspire me. And I suspect that you inspire many.

I especially loved your reference to Asbury Park of yesteryear when you stated that people can’t go back because there is “no there, there” anymore. Unless we’re extremely lucky, the only real way back is through memory and what others left behind for us to find.

As you march on through Chapter III of your life, you will continue to leave behind - oh so much - for others to find.

Thank you dear Helen. You are my time traveling friend and mentor.

- Steve Albert

Feb 03, 2012 2:31 PM EST

I agree, & love the ability to watch the world go by, however I NEED a gps. When I fly to a strange city & have to get somewhere, they have been a Godsend. Yes I'm sure I miss some local color, but I'm rarely late to a gig these days...

- Kevin John Allen

Feb 05, 2012 9:41 AM EST

A wonderful travelogue, present and past. We who spent vacations in cars traveling to another place, at the mercy of parents who sometimes did and sometimes didn't know where they were going, appreciate the best of both worlds. Getting lost is like failure, you don't know how unexpectedness can be both terrifying and exhilarating, until it happens to you and you survive. Thanks Helen, miss you.

- Nancy

Feb 05, 2012 11:48 AM EST

Well said... a reminder to the fact of something so many of us are losing site of...our own intuitive sense of direction.

- maxine snow

Jan 01, 2012 12:54 PM EST

Your adventure sounds invigorating and is an inspiration to all of us who wonder what the next life-step could or should be! Cheers to the road ahead for the Pike Log.

- Pam Waterman

Jan 13, 2012 2:00 PM EST

Anxiously waiting for the next installment.

- Cousin Judy

Jan 14, 2012 5:18 PM EST

Congrats on making the final leg of the journey. Enjoy settling in to Vermont!

- Cousin Kit

Jan 20, 2012 10:23 AM EST

And the North Jersey Shore will miss its favourite Piker.

- Al

Jan 20, 2012 11:50 AM EST

Helen , glad to hear you are living your dream. I take it that the house sold and you made your move.
Harold
H.E.S. PAINTING

- Harold

Jun 15, 2012 6:19 AM EDT

Wow,Helen, you're blessed to have knowledge of such a long line of ancestors--just don't rush to join them! Seriously, you have an abundance of influences and subjects. I'm sure there's not enough hours in the day for all you want to accomplish.

- Gayle Aanensen

Oct 16, 2012 8:51 AM EDT

Helen, I grew up largely in Neptune. Now I'm 71 and retired in the Caribbean. I am reading "Luckiest Man" an excellent biography of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig. It relates that Gehrig and Babe Ruth played in a barnstorming game at Asbury Park HS in 1927 and that Lou hit a home run that landed in Deal Lake. Researching that let me to your web site, with its excellent picture of the HS and lake. By the way, when I was 12 (summer of 1953) I had my first job ever, which was caring for and walking the pony ride concession right there at the boardwalk. Some memories! Thanks. (Our web site is www.dan-ruth-tanner.com)

- Dan Tanner