Helen Richardson Coyle

Helen was born in California in 1914 to Martha and Walter Richardson. Both of her parents were of prominent lineage: her mother was a Bebb, daughter of a noted botanist and the granddaughter of William Bebb, the Governor of Ohio in 1984 – 1849 and an appointee in the Lincoln Administration. A first cousin on her mother’s side, Norman Mason, was Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency during the Eisenhower Administration. Her father was an eastern transplant whose uncle, John Pierce, was a founder of the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Co. (now American Standard Co.). Pierce had no children and willed part of his fortune to his stepsister, Helen’s grandmother Richardson. This legacy was a source of family wealth that helped support Helen’s travels at a time when others were struggling to make ends meet.

Helen grew up on a citrus ranch outside the small town of Porterville, on the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

She got the travel bug from her family, particularly her father and two brothers. Her father traveled extensively in California and the Sierras and worked as an engineer for several years in the gold mines of South Africa, circling the globe going to and coming from South Africa in 1897 – 1903. One of her brothers, William, was a member of the Archbold Expedition to New Guinea in 1938 – 1939. Her older brother, Hilton, traveled extensively in Central America and Africa and encouraged his younger sister to join the boys on camping trips in the Sierras. Helen herself had already cycled in Europe (July – December 1939) and in Japan and China (June – August 1940) before her trip to South America.

Many years after her bicycle journey in 1941 – 1942, she married William E. Coyle and had six children (Anne, William, Walter, Richard, Marti, and Rob). She passed away in 2003.