Columnists
Email
Print
Old Salem: Mary Helen Boone, known for heart and wit, is to retire
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Mary Helen Boone has the original newspaper ad and letter from Old Salem from when she was hired.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 18, 2009
In her 34 years working at Old Salem, Mary Helen Boone has often been the face of Old Salem.
Her picture has been on the cover of the Winston-Salem telephone book, on the cover of Old Salem's annual report and in numerous magazines and newspapers.
"She was one of the people we often went to to portray Old Salem," said Joyce Knabb, who worked in marketing.
Her face looked liked it belonged in Salem, Knabb said.
Boone, 83, won't officially retire until next month. But the past couple of years have brought some health challenges, and she is already on medical leave.
Many of the people who have worked at Old Salem in the past 30 years know her as the person who helped train
them -- the person who made sure that they saw Old Salem's story not as something dry to be recited by rote but as something vigorous to be passed on in whatever way best fit the visitors.
"I didn't give a spiel," Boone said. "I talked to my guests…. You have to make it interesting to the children…. You have got to make them feel important and they are going to learn something."
One of her treasures is a letter from the parents of a little boy named Ralph who came to Old Salem with his family.
"He was a holy terror," Boone said. "I said, ‘What is your name?' He said, ‘Ralph.'"
Enlisting him as her helper, she gave him some information to pass on to others on tour. Ralph ended up having big fun. "He didn't want to leave with his parents," she said.
After they got back home, his grateful parents wrote a letter to Old Salem.
Irma Muetzel met Boone when she came to work for Old Salem in 1995, and, as Muetzel came to appreciate Boone as a person, they became friends.
"She is a very caring person," Muetzel said. "She is very sincere…. She will never forget a birthday."
Throughout the year, Boone buys birthday and Christmas presents for people, wraps them up and keeps them in a closet until it is time to give them. Go take a look, Muetzel said. The closet had about 25 gifts in it.
"She doesn't talk about it," Muetzel said. "She is extremely kind and generous."
"Mind like a steel trap" and "colorful" also came up when people described her. She's funny, too.
"She has the best sense of humor," Knabb said.
Boone grew up on a farm in Indiana.
"I would wring chickens' necks," she said. "I milked cows."
She met her husband, Wayne, in high school. She asked a friend who that tall fellow was. The friend said, "Daniel Boone" and, later, dragged him over to meet Boone.
Changing ribbons
Boone likes to tell stories, and, as she talked about their early dates, she included such details as the two Clark Bars that he had in his pocket at a football game and the time he asked permission to kiss her.
This was the early 1940s, and World War II was on its way. When it arrived, he joined the Marines.
"I did not see him for 4½ years," she said.
When he came home, he proposed, and Boone's father called to his wife to get out that bottle of wine.
In the early years of their marriage, Wayne Boone traveled extensively in his job as a regional sales manager for a carpet company, and Boone took care of the household and their three children. Everyone was well into their school years when she decided to get a job at Old Salem.
During her training period in 1975, she received $1 an hour. After a stop at $1.40 an hour during her probationary period, she made $1.60. In those days, things were quite different at Old Salem. For instance, the 1937 annex still stood behind the boys' school, and the shrunken head that the missionaries brought back was still on display.
Originally, Boone planned to leave Old Salem when her husband retired so that they could enjoy their time together. But, when he had a heart attack and died 22 years ago, Old Salem became a refuge.
"It got me up in the morning," she said. "It was my home after Wayne died."
In Salem, the color of the ribbon on a woman's haube (bonnet) indicated her marital status. Boone changed the ribbon she wore at work. When she got tired of people saying, "I'm so sorry your husband is dead," she switched to the ribbon that remarried women wore.
Boone is still going to have plenty to keep her busy. She is an active member of a Red Hat Society club and has lots of other friends to keep up with as well.
"She has friends everywhere," Knabb said.
■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
