"Just because she didn't like it, doesn't mean she didn't do a good job raising her only child" say Cate Bandel, President of Nina Leonard Fashions in NYC. Her mother was a fantastic person, wonderful role model and a great mom and grandmother, however she struggled with being a perfectionist.
Her bosses wanted her to shut up and do her work, says Cate of her mother's bosses, but that was not who Helen was. Helen grew up in South Carolina, one of three children raised by a farming family.
Her mother insisted she leave the farming life to her younger brothers and go to college. Within a few years, she was one of 5 women to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Helen completed her teaching degree. Though she never taught in a classroom, she did teach her daughter that women are smart, they can work and raise children at the same time.
Helen got a second shot at life later on and said "there's nothing you can't do at 60 that you can at 40." She embraced a new career and was attentive and fond of her grandson.
Because Helen struggled with being a perfectionist, she took motherhood very seriously, and felt its' confines.
Once she recognized that her daughter was a strong and confident woman, she could relax and enjoy life. Cate says about her mom "she had a wonderful personality and great fashion sense and people were drawn to her."