Paul Laurence Helzer

Paul Laurence Helzer born on March 21st, 1952 in Glendale, California to Dr. Wesley Paul Helzer and Kathleen Winona Stubbs. Paul was the first of five children in the Helzer family, followed by John, Sherri, Mary and Daniel. Paul is survived by his siblings, his wife Beverly Helzer and his four children Jennifer, Ginger, Rachel and Arianna.

Paul grew up in a loving home, his family was close and he spent a lot of time with his maternal grandparents, his Uncle Floyd & Aunt Gloria Stubbs, and their two sons, Tommy and Douglas. Paul was the kid who just wanted to try everything, influenced by the t.v. shows of the day he would day dream about being a cowboy or one of the army guys, a scuba explorer, and a secret agent. His brother John recalls fondly of their childhood, how he and Paul would order from the ads in the wrappers of Bazooka Bubble Gum. Things like plastic army men to blow up, and sea monkeys to hatch, but firecrackers were the best. Paul was a model car builder and would paint every single car bright candy-apple red. He was usually more interested in a quick build than perfection because Paul was a lover of explosives and anything that could make a BANG, so eventually the cars were blown up anyways. The two boys would fashion pipe guns out of half inch pipe that Paul would weld a handle onto, then drill a hole in the cap (so he could fit firecrackers into the gun), light the fuse so that it would shoot whatever projectile that was in front of it out of the barrel. The birds learned to avoid the helzer house, and the garage drywall suffered many holes as a result of their adventures. Paul was always building or engaging in construction or destruction—building mini bikes, chopping the ends off old cars and such, and figuring out how to make them even better. His sister Sherri recalls him getting a welder and torch set from Santa one Christmas. “That all worked out well,” she says, “…until the garage burned down.” But Paul never slowed down, there was always something to make or build.

Paul was quite the sportsman in his youth, he played football, loved swimming, hiking and hunting. Him and his brother John used to swim out to a shipwreck off the coast in Palos Verdes in California to harvest abalone. Once, while hunting in Owens Valley, John recalls that Paul shot what appeared to be the biggest snow goose ever taken, unfortunately it turned out to be a swan, and the fiasco nearly caused their Uncle Floyd to have a heart attack! Swan poaching was illegal. To ensure that Paul was not arrested, the brothers were forced to prepare and eat the bird. John says, “It was full of shot that we had to spit out! Lead shot! I am convinced my IQ and motor skills were negatively impacted.” There was even a time Paul and John shot each other! (by accident, of course) Uncle Floyd took the guns away, but knowing Paul and John, they found a way to sneak and get them back.

Coral 51 was a Horse club in Bellflower. This is where the family started doing barrel racing and pole bending, Hey hole, Rescue and more. Paul and John and their sister Sharrie did the shows on ponies, and Grandma and Grandpa competed too. Paul was a skilled young horseman. Sherri recalls how his horse would rear up (just like the Lone Ranger), and he would ride into the arena and have his horse do impressive tricks for the crowd.

As the Helzer family continued to grow and they moved to what was affectionately known as the “Spanish House” in Bellflower. This home featured a tennis court and a full acre on which to create a kid’s dream world for Paul and his siblings. This house is where John draws most of his childhood memories from. There were even two black Welsh ponies (Midnight & Sunny… or was it Thunder?), that were ridden and occasionally harnessed up to a red wagon. Paul’s father taught him how to harness and drive these ponies, and he became a great hand with horses at a very young age—knowledge which would later come in handy when he worked with packing teams in the Sierras by Convict Lake. Paul was always an entrepreneur at heart, and as a kid would make pocket money charging neighbors for pony rides, hayrides, and not just a lemonade stand, but a hamburger stand as well! Paul was always the type of business person to go that extra mile, even when he was small kid.

They moved to Chino when Paul was in high school. He played football and got his letterman’s jacket from Chino High. He also got his scuba license in high school, with dreams of becoming a professional diver. His siblings recall that he was quite the charmer and a popular guy. He drove a Chevy van, complete with paneling, 8-track tapes, and shag carpet, all the amenities a young man in the late 60’s could want. His brother John recalls a road trip he took with Paul in the summer of 1969, just before Paul’s senior year of high school. According to John, their father gave them the keys to his Ford truck, and a gas credit card. “It was a great trip,” John says, “We listened to the moon landing on the radio while in Zion National Park and heard live broadcasts from Woodstock. I even took Paul rock climbing at Joshua Tree. He would try anything once and ‘once’ it was, because we made it up ok, but we should have had some belay lessons before the climb.”

When asked what he thought the biggest turning point in his life was, Paul revealed that is was “going to college instead of Tahiti.” After high school graduation Paul went to Mount Sac. Jr College and took Biology and psychology classes, he thought he might want to be a psychologist. Paul’s Dad was a successful Chiropractor and talked him into registering for the last class to go to medical school without the requirements of college prerequisites. So Paul was able to become a chiropractor in four years. Paul attended Palmer College of Chiropractic with his cousin Leo Sebbas, who was a class ahead of him. Paul said that his Dad called him every week to encourage him to finish, and that Leo helpped him stay focused on school. The confines of school never sat well with Paul, sitting in class and studding were hard for this creative outdoorsman. He found an outlet in Karati while attending Chiropractic School in Iowa. He earned his black belt and was introduced to Kendo sword training by a japanese student who had come all the way from Japan.

To shed more light on Paul's time at Palmer College his loving cousin, Leo Sebbas Shares his memories:

My Memories of Paul Helzer and Palmer College, By Leo V. Sebbas, D.C.

“The fact that I am writing this reflection of Paul makes me realize that his departure was all too early. He was robbed of enjoying that which he worked for on this earth. I was asked to write about the time we spent at Palmer College of Chiropractic at Davenport, Iowa.

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s the chiropractic profession was still coming into its own. Chiropractors were not looked on as mainstream practitioners, so many of the students of chiropractic were there because of family influence. Such was the case with Dr. Wesley P. Helzer (Paul’s father) who had a chiropractic uncle, Dr. Carl Benzel, D.C. of Greeley, Colorado. I attended Palmer College because of Uncle Wes, and of course Paul followed in the footsteps of his father.

I started at Palmer in January 1969, and Paul in January 1970. I am doing this from memory, and I think this because I still remember Paul as a Southern California native landing in Iowa in the dead of winter. I remember he wore a coat that would have sufficed in Alaska. I really believe that he did not get warm until the spring thaw. As evidenced by cadavers in anatomy labs, when you are exposed to cold weather, your skin does thicken, and the winters become more tolerable.

One of the earlier memories I have after Paul’s arrival was of when he broke the fifth metacarpal of his right hand. Of course, trying to walk on ice is not a natural ability, especially for folks from Southern California. Our assumptions were wrong. Paul had a brown belt in karate, of which he was proud. He tried to demonstrate his ability to break a brick with his bare hands. Unfortunately, he chose one of the cobblestone bricks that many of the streets of Davenport were paved with in that time. Evidentially, there was a difference in the clay bricks of California and the cobblestone bricks of Iowa. As students of chiropractic, we were both reminded of the necessity of taking better care of our hands.

In trying to write this, the routine events do not particularly stand out in my memory. We both had the same professors—many of whom had taught at Palmer for years. Most knew their course verbatim, and sometimes were a little mundane in their presentation of the material. Classes kept us at school most of the day. I really do not remember the number of credits that we carried each semester, but we were both on track to graduate a four-year program in three years. That track required that we take summer school also. We had a three or four-week break between classes in the summer. Paul and I would put what belongings we could in my 1963 Volkswagen bug, and head for California. Most of the trips involved driving 38 hours straight through. We took turns driving, and to this day I wonder how we did it. We did stop one trip in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Cheyenne Days were in full swing, and we went to a melodrama play. Paul heckled the villain so much about his black outfit and brown socks that he stopped the show.

In addition to classes, most of the day we both had to work. Not saying that in today’s terms we as Palmer students were discriminated against, but the employers knew that we would be with them only a short time. Paul worked as a security guard for a company named Per Mar. He walked around a warehouse all night, keying in at security boxes. Unlike today’s minimum wage workers, we were paid $1.25 per hour. This brings me to another memorable event: I distinctly remember a morning when Paul and I combined our money to buy some food. Pretty sure as memories go, we pooled together less than $1.00, and that was four to five days before pay day for either of us. Popcorn, peanut butter, bread, and jelly had to suffice that week. I guess that we both were a little more aware of our financial balance after that, as I only remember that one week.

I would like to share with you that it was a lot of work, sweat, and tears, but I remember fun times also. Paul and one of our other roommates played the guitar, and we would sit around and slaughter songs of the day. I especially remember (and still like) his rendition of the song “Taxi.” Our pooled efforts would get us some beer. Drewrys beer was a cheap, dry Canadian beer that, I swear to this day, you had to drink three of before your taste buds stopped functioning and it started to taste okay. We eventually graduated to PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon). PBR was available in Davenport most of the times, except on Sundays, when Iowa was a dry state. Paul would refer to us as “our PBR club.” Later, we had a roommate that drove semi-trucks. When he came through Colorado, he would load up the sleeper on his truck with Coors, bootleg it to Iowa, and sell it. At least at times we had some real beer.

Towards the end of my courses at Palmer College, I met Linda, and we were eventually married after I graduated. Paul was my best man at our wedding. Linda and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary this year.

After graduation I moved to Southern California to work with Dr. Wes Helzer—first in Bellflower, and later in Ontario. Teresa (Paul’s first wife) and Paul stayed back in Davenport until Paul’s graduation, and then also moved to Southern California.

Paul was always a better storyteller than I, and I am positive that he could share and embellish a lot more events of our Palmer days. It is so sad he is not with us to share those stories. Dr. Paul helped a lot of people in his short time on earth. I pray and know that he is in a better place.”

Paul Helzer D.C. graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1974, and took over his father's Chiropractic business in Bellflower California. Not long after that he met Beverly Hoover,“He was smitten,” his sisters say. They were married on August 13th, 1983. That year Paul was accepted into a holistic medicine exchange and the pair used the opportunity to honeymoon in China. He spoke of his honeymoon and travel to China as the best trip of his life. Paul and Bev were married 34 years. Beverly is the mother of Paul’s two youngest daughters Rachel and Arianna, and the loving stepmother to his two eldest daughters Jennifer and Ginger. Paul had always joked that he had wanted to be surrounded by beautiful women, and warned, that was exactly what he got! Paul loved all his girls, and loved watching his family grow. Through marriage and loving partnership Paul gained son’s, husbands Scott Mull, Tony Kyles, Gary Beck, and another daughter Samantha Hoffman. With them came seven grandchildren: Haley and Tyler Mull, Zack, Savannah and Owen Kyles, and Gary II and Lorelei Beck.

Later in life, Paul returned to school, and received his PhD in psychology, giving him the title Dr. Paul Helzer D.C. Paul went on to guest teach in many subjects at many schools, and became a proctor for LACC (Los Angeles Chiropractic College). Paul became active in the Lions Club, and later joined the Masonic Lodge at the direction of his grandfather, Floyd Stubbs. He loved everything about it. Eventually, he branched out from the Masonic Lodge into the York Rite, and became an exemplary member of the Knights Templar. Through his influence, his daughters Jennifer and Ginger and granddaughter Hailie were in Job's Daughters, which they say made an enormous impact on their lives. He ran for office on the Bellflower School Board, where he was active for 16 years, and served as president four times. During this time, he also would pay visits to the schools in his district and lead educational demonstrations on wide variety of subjects that ranged from bone structure to gold mining. Both Rachel and Arianna went to the Orange County School of Arts in Santa Ana, were Paul was an active supporter of the performing arts.

Jennifer, Paul’s oldest daughter shares memories of her Dad saying he was “an extraordinary father my parents divorced when we were very young. My father had custody of Ginger and I for four days a month. Four days might not seem very long, but Dad always had filled those days up with lots of memories. We were always excited to see Dad, and he never missed his weekend with us. Every Friday he would drive two hours round-trip to pick us up, and two hours every Sunday to take us back. Not every child can say their father was so loving and devoted.” He continued his trademark devotion to family when his grandchildren were born, visiting his daughter Ginger, and her family in Texas to spend quality time as often as he could. He lent his joyful demeanor and teasing sarcasm to every situation, which always resulted in heartfelt smiles and laughter. “He loved being a grandpa,” Jennifer says, “At my kid’s school, he dressed up as Santa for the annual ‘Breakfast with Santa’. He made special school visits to guest teach about California history, and did hands on presentations on gold prospecting.”

Paul’s sister Sherri says, “When I think of Paul, I think about ‘Uncle Buck’ (played by John Candy) because he was the cool dad, father and uncle. He loved great fireworks and was quite a pyro technician—making homemade bombs that impressed all the guys, and potato launchers for the hell of it. He was a prankster. He enjoyed great jokes and could tell the best of them. He was a speaker of both the great things and the ordinary. He was a rock star, and he was a shoulder when you needed him. He gave fair and real advice when asked, and played many roles: cowboy, hero, rebel, pirate and king. He was the Big Bumble Bee that led his dancing daughters to stage, a singer and poet, and knew just enough dance steps to get by. But most of all Paul was a good man and friend—slow to anger, warm and caring, and held his family in the utmost esteem. He was a spiritual man and shared his love and himself with those in need. If you ask, ‘Was it enough? Did he accomplish during his life what he wanted?’ I would say yes.”

His two youngest daughters Rachel and Arianna, remember his love for explosives, building and creating. Arianna grew up with Paul attending the Renaissance PLeasure fairs of California. They became a pirate crew that was well known at the fairs. He took his love of history and his piratical persona and put it to good use, Arianna remembers fondly when he and she restored the black powder cannons on the tall ship Lynx. Paul would teach anyone who was willing to restore and respect the power behind technology and machines.

“My father was a true renaissance man.” His daughter Rachel reflects, “He was a dancer, an artist, a fisherman, a gold miner, a builder, a cowboy, a Ronin, a healer, and an author. Dad wrote seven books and left many unfinished manuscripts. He loved the written word as much as he loved the sunrise. He had an extensive library, and as a kid I remember my sisters and I playing among his books. Some we would read through, some we turned into houses or forts for our toys, and some we used to copy pictures from to practice drawing. Mom and Dad read to us before bed and humored us when we presented them with our own stories and picture books. Dad gave away and gifted a great many books to people. Whenever he thought you needed to know something, or if it reminded him of you, or if he just wanted you to smile, there was a story for that. While going through Dad’s books after his passing, I realized he would never be gone. Not only was he in the books he wrote, but he is a part of every book I will every read.”

“There is an old German folk tale that says loved ones in heaven slept until someone on earth remembered them. This book will have served its purpose if you spend a little time discussing the stories with your friends and family and relate and retell some of the wonderful stories of your own life so that your friends and family and children will remember you and learn the wisdom and wonder of your life. A wise man once said that life is a journey, not a destination. If you travel it right, the destination is taken care of, after all, we leave only footsteps and take only memories. May you never sleep in heaven!” - Dr. Paul Helzer, from his book “Hey, Stick Around and see what happens next!”