Helene & Ted

Ted and Helene just celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary and are having the time of their lives. Ted is 75 and Helene 73 years young….and “young” they are!

Helene began her working career while still in HS.  She worked at a local bank in the bookkeeping department & within a year she moved to a larger bank in town to become their head bookkeeper.  Those were the days before computers and everything was processed by hand (making sure all checks were signed & looking for forgeries) in house before being posted to a person’s account.  Helene kept this job until their first child was born in 1963.

From 1958 and 1978 Ted and Helene co-owned Ro-Saul Gardens Florist in Lakewood, NJ with her parents.  They both designed the floral arrangements and Ted took care of 3 large greenhouses growing many of the flowers that they used as well as selling wholesale…and (of course), Helene took care of the books.  In 1965 they had their second child and life was full but Ted was getting antsy to get out of that business.

An opportunity to buy a thriving Janitorial and Hardware business in New York City presented itself and they decided to take the plunge. This business kept them very busy. By a stroke of luck, one day 2 people came into the shop looking to purchase a Spray-A-Spot cleaning gun. This couple happened to be from the wardrobe department of a new Broadway show that was opening soon. That purchase set up their business to become a complete one-stop shopping center for all wardrobe and hair departments for many Broadway shows which took their business in a very successful direction. Who would have known! Before long, Ted and Helene’s business was selling to major theatre companies all over the US and even received orders from theatre groups in other countries.

Ted had always said he wanted to retire at age 65….so…in Feb 2001 they decided to put their business up for sale. By April of that year it was sold. Shortly after that they met Robert Walsh. They credit Robert in being very instrumental in guiding them towards retirement, advising them on their investments and savings to help them reach their goal of moving to Florida. It wasn’t long before Ted started searching for something to do. He landed a job in Lowe’s and Helene began working for Macy’s which began as a holiday position but lasted for 4 years.

Ted and Helene enjoyed their vacations, taking their kids and grandkids on many of their trips. Since their final retirement they’ve spent time with friends in California and Spain and have also traveled to Alaska, China & Mexico. There are still more places they plan on traveling to.

Once their grandkids were all kept busy with high school, college and work, Ted and Helene took a giant step… and moved to Florida, something Ted had wanted to do since their honeymoon. They found a beautiful home in an adult community on a lake in Boynton Beach where they are both are involved in many different clubs. Ted keeps busy fishing, shooting and working out at the gym. He’s also involved with the construction of
scenery for their community theater group. Helene, having a love for photography, joined the photography club and started taking classes in “The Art of Seeing with the Camera”. She has a great interest in taking charge of their health from the nutritional side and takes non-cooking classes on how to prepare raw and “living” food recipes. She enjoys walking and riding her bike. They both just started doing Qigong.  It’s wonderful to see Ted and Helene enjoying life as they do!