Hi there - I'm Helen (Ellis) Gerken, the eighth child born to Earnest
     and Elnora Ellis. You know, the one that got all the hand-me-downs. It was
     great though coming from a large family. We had a lot of fun fights, etc., 
     but all in all were a happy bunch.
          Our Dad was a carpenter and built many of the houses in Isabel and
     surrounding areas. He also played a mean fiddle. He taught me how to chord
     on the piano so I could accompany him. What good times we had - Mom was a
     wonderful woman and though she died when I was quite young, I can remember
     the good deeds she did in the community, besides helping to raise eight
     children, which in itself was an outstanding feat!
          I lived in Isabel, Kansas until graduating from high school, and have
     such fond memories of school days, especially the dandy boys' basketball 
     team who were really on a winning streak during our junior and senior years
     of 1936-1937.
          After graduating at Isabel I attended the Halstead Hospital School of
     Nursing and upon graduating from there, took a position in the Okeene, 
     Oklahoma Hospital. That is where I met and married Gene Gerken. While he
     farmed, I worked as a nurse there for many years. Then we moved to Enid,
     Oklahoma where I was a Public Health Nurse for 10 years.
          Gene and I have three children: (Darrell and) Linda Jones of Enid,
     Oklahoma; (Mike and) Jane Moore of Belton, Texas; and Rick (and Paula)
     Gerken of Wichita, Kansas. Our clan includes 7 grandchildren.
          Isabel will always be special to me. I enjoy coming home to see how 
     the old windmill town has changed, and love visiting with my sister, Ethel
     and her husband, Barney Nossaman who live there.
          We are now retired and live outside of Belton, Texas where we have a
     big garden, fruit trees and warm winters.
               
     Source: Isabel, Kansas - The First 100 Years, 1887 - 1987,  pg. 76 
     
     Submitted by: Helen Gerken