In Memoriam Helga Sandburg Crile 1918-2014 |
Obituary for Helga Sandburg Crile (written by Paula Steichen Polega)
Helga Sandburg Crile died at her home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on
Sunday evening, January 26, 2014 after a period of failing health. She
was 95.
She was born November 24, 1918 in Maywood, Illinois, the youngest of
three daughters. Her father was the poet and historian Carl Sandburg and
her mother was Lilian Steichen Sandburg, sister of the photographer,
Edward Steichen. Ms. Sandburg would become the only one of the three
Sandburg sisters to marry. She and her first husband, Joseph Thoman, had
two children, John Carl and Paula. Ms. Sandburg spent most of her childhood in Elmhurst, Illinois, and then in Harbert, Michigan, on the lake, about ninety miles from Chicago. As a child she was fascinated with nature and mounted butterfly and leaf collections. In the family’s home she saw great political and literary figures come to visit. She began her own literary career typing manuscripts for her father in the loft room of a barn at the family’s small farm in Harbert. She was close to her family and beloved by both her parents. Her father dedicated several books to her and wrote poems in her honor. The poem, “Helga,” from Carl Sandburg’s 1920 book, Smoke and Steel, reads:
Helga
“The wishes on this child’s mouth
In 1952, after marriage to a second husband, Ms. Sandburg moved to
the Washington, DC area, where she worked in the Library of Congress.
During these years she began writing seriously, and in 1958 won the
Emily Clark Balch prize for her short story, “Witch Chicken,” which had
been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review. Her first novel,
The Wheel of Earth, was received enthusiastically by the critics
in 1958. The New York Times Book Review described the book,
saying: “It is necessary to go back to the fine realistic novels of Ole
Rolvaag and Theodore Dreiser to find the equal…. A strong and intensely
interesting novel…that commands deep respect for its compassion and its
integrity…. Miss Sandburg writes with a power and simplicity that is
sometimes elemental and yet is shot through with imagery almost
startling in its vividness.”
Ms. Sandburg’s literary career eventually included the publication of
seventeen books, including novels, memoirs, children’s books, a music
book, and several volumes of poetry. Her writing frequently appeared in
a variety of publications, including The New Yorker, Harper’s,
Saturday Review, the Georgia Review, and Cricket.
After her divorce in 1959 from her second husband, Ms. Sandburg lectured
widely, both in America and abroad. She was the recipient of several
grants and traveled as an American Specialist in England and Europe for
the State Department’s Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs.
In 1963 she married Dr. George Crile, Jr., who was then the Chief of
Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. She
traveled extensively with Dr. Crile, and the documentaries that they
made together concerning these travels eventually became the basis for a
film festival that they put on each year during the Christmas season,
which was attended annually by hundreds of people.
Ms. Sandburg developed a real love for her adopted city, Cleveland, and
even after her husband’s death in 1992 she remained in the same home on
Kent Road that she and her husband had shared for 29 years.
In his 1992 autobiography, The Way It Was, Dr. Crile described
his wife during their years together, saying that his words could only
be a “synopsis of Helga, because if I had told it all, this book could
go on for volumes.” He wrote: “Helga is the busiest woman I have ever
known. She not only takes care of the house, does the shopping, the
cooking, the caring for the animals, the feeding of the wild birds and
of the fish in our backyard pond, but she also is always writing, and
also always editing my papers, essays, and books. Helga is the most
talented woman I have ever met. She not only looks fifteen years younger
than she is, she also acts that way. ‘What any woman can do Helga can do
better,’ is still my characterization of her. She writes on her word
processor with the speed of lightning. She is master of all the
recording and projection equipment that we use at the Film Festival. She
is an expert barber and has saved me thousands of dollars by cutting my
hair for the last twenty-five years. Helga is an artist in the kitchen
and in both preparation and preservation of food. I’ve never seen anyone
as good as she is in a garden. She knows all about goats and cows. She
is an excellent horseback rider. She is as good at filing and accounting
as she is in her library work. She plays the guitar and signs
professionally and she is a fearless and helpful traveling companion,
talking to everyone she meets and learning all about the countries she
travels in. In addition to all these skills, Helga is a devoted mother,
a perfect wife, and a person who loves everyone for what he is and not
for anything else.”
Helga Sandburg Crile is survived by her son, Dr. John Steichen, and
wife, Liz, of Landenburg, PA; her daughter, Paula Steichen Polega, and
husband, Stanley, of Hendersonville, NC; her step-daughter, Anne Crile
Esselstyn, and husband, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, of Pepper Pike, OH;
her step-daughter, Susan Crile of NYC; and numerous grandchildren,
step-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death
by her sisters, Margaret Sandburg and Janet Sandburg, a step-daughter,
Joan Crile Foster, and a step-son, George Crile III. A memorial service
will be held in the spring. |