Helen C. Gamboe

1924 - 2016

(News story) PIONEER, Ohio - Helen C. Gamboe, who knew the happenings in the community she was so active in and who kept readers up to date as The Blade correspondent in Williams County, died Saturday in Hillsdale Country Living, a nursing facility near Bryan. She was 92.

She had dementia, her daughter, Marilyn, said. Her health declined after the death seven years ago of her husband, Robert.

Mrs. Gamboe supplied The Blade with news tips from Williams County from the 1960s into the 1990s. She had scanners upstairs and down at home and listened to broadcasts day and night of the sheriff's office and area police and fire departments.

When she heard of a fire or crash or other significant news events, she phoned The Blade.

At the time, The Blade had correspondents in most of the 21 counties it covered, recalled Donald Carr, a former regional editor.

"She was a good one," Mr. Carr said. "She let us know what was going on, and that's what we needed."

She was an eyewitness to her biggest story, just down the block. On Nov. 11, 1979, 14 people died as a boarding house and nursing home burned to the ground. She was on her porch picking up the Sunday Blade when she looked to the east.

"I saw this blazing ball of fire," Mrs. Gamboe told The Blade in 1991. "I let out a scream. My neighbor came running, and we saw it was the nursing home on fire."

Her husband was president of the school board, so she called on him to open up the school as a shelter. She told her daughter to start making coffee for the firefighters on that chilly morning.

And she called The Blade.

Beyond breaking news, she contributed ideas for news and feature stories based on what she saw and learned every day. She was active in Pioneer United Methodist Church. She'd been commander of the American Legion Auxiliary and held fish fries to raise money for community causes. She led a committee to recruit a physician to Pioneer and was a member of the Sesqui Study Club.

"You couldn't ask for a better lady," Pioneer Mayor Edward Kidston said. "She was one of those townspeople who really cared about the town and wanted to see good things happen.

"There wasn't much that went on in this town that Helen didn't know about," said Mr. Kidston, who has been mayor about 20 years and whose late father, R. Bruce Kidston, was Pioneer mayor for about 20 years.

Her husband owned Gamboe Stockyards, and she worked from home as the company bookkeeper. Earlier, she was a watchmaker and diamond setter for 11 years at Grice Jewelry Store in Montpelier.

"She was a very detailed person, so she liked the tininess of what she was able to do," her daughter said. "She liked meeting with people and help plan weddings. The Grices were like family to her."

She had no hobbies.

"Her enjoyment was doing for others," her daughter said. "If someone moved into the community, she was the first one on their doorstep with food. She was very outgoing and had a servant's heart and encouraged others."

She was born Aug. 15, 1924, in Williams County's Jefferson Township to Myrtle and Ward Ensign. She was a 1942 graduate of Montpelier High School.

She and her husband married May 2, 1954. He died July 1, 2009. Their son James died in 1965.

Surviving are her daughter, Marilyn Dauer; son, Ted Gamboe; brother, Neil Ensign; sister, Veda Braatz; stepbrother, Hobie Krouse; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren, four stepgrandchildren, and six step-great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. today at the Thompson Funeral Home in Pioneer. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Pioneer United Methodist Church.

The family suggests tributes to the church or to Anna's House, which is the dementia care unit at Hillside Country Living.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.