Helen Alderfer Biography

Biographical Sketch:

Helen Alderfer (1919-2013) was a poet for most of her life, and her first poem was published when she was just 8 years old. Although she published only one volume of poetry during her life, she was an editor for Mennonite Publishing House for 25 years, and worked on magazines such as Christian Living and On the Line. She edited A Farthing in Her Hand, a book for (about?) Mennonite women in 1964. Her poetry collection, published in 2008, is The Mill Grinds Fine.

Ms. Alderfer was a Goshen College graduate, but she attended before there was a substantial creative writing program. She had to find her own writing community of people who loved poetry as much as she did, and she continued to do so well after she retired to Waterford Crossing Retirement Community in Goshen, Indiana. There, Ms. Alderfer participated in a monthly meeting with fellow poets to exchange poems and critique.

Ms. Alderfer wrote poetry throughout her life, and used it during times of emotional upheaval, whether volunteering with Mennonite Central Committee in the Philippines or coping with caring for her husband Ed as he succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease. Not even the ailments of old age could stop her from writing; her last publication: The Mill Grinds Fine was compiled when Ms. Alderfer was 90 years old and legally blind. Although she died in September of 2013, she will be remembered as a determined poet who loved writing and refused to let macular degeneration stop her from doing what she loved.

Published books:

Alderfer, Helen Wade. The Mill Grinds Fine: Collected Poems. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker, 2009. Print.

Alderfer, Helen Wade, ed. A Farthing in Her Hand. Scottdale: Herald Press, 1964. Print.

Selected publications:

http://www.themennonite.org/pdf/magazine_pdf_82.pdf

Bibliography of Interviews and Reviews:

Dukes, Howard. "Greencroft Holds Writing Contest." South Bend Tribune. South Bend Tribune, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Hostetler, Ann. "Grist for the Mill." Center for Mennonite Writing. Center for Mennonite Writing, 15 May 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Rich, Sarah, ed. Goshen Portraits 3. Goshen: Pinchpenny Press, 2009. Print.

Showalter, Shirley. "Helen Alderfer, Poet, Mother, Wise Woman, Role Model." Shirley Hershey Showalter. Shirley Hershey Showalter, 3 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.