Golf or Life: It's all about the approach

Helen Stanhouse renewed her Illinois driver's license in Pinckneyville Tuesday so, among other things, she can continue to meet Phyllis Crawford at the tee box on the No. 1 hole every Wednesday at Red Hawk golf course.

On November 25, Helen turns 92.

"I passed with flying colors," said Helen of her driver's test. Helen is the wife of the late Jim Stanhouse, who passed away in April of this year at the age of 90.

Jim served 23 years in the United States Marines and left that career with the rank of captain.

They started playing golf while Jim was stationed at Quantico, Va. "I think that was around 1955," she remembers. "We joined (what was then) the Elks Country Club in 1969. I started out with a handicap of eight," she smiles. "It's probably not that good now."

"Phyllis and I have been playing for 30 years," she said. "She's my golf cart driver," Helen laughs.

Helen laughs a lot. You don't stop laughing because you grow older. You grow older because you stop laughing.

"I've slowed down," Helen says. Phyllis shakes her head in disagreement. Helen still hits the ball off the tee like a seasoned pro. "I've had three holes in one," Helen beams. And, her short game on the greens is just as good as her drives off the tee. "We usually play 18 holes, but it just depends on how I feel. When it's bad outside we come out for lunch and a couple of drinks," Helen said. "We use to go to the legion, then out to Siefert's to eat, but there's no Siefert's any more," she said.

Fourteen pills a day and her second pacemaker have helped her outlive a lot of things we don't have any more.

"They don't have Ladies Night any more," she said. "Nothing's the same," she smiles

Only in the movie "Back to the Future" would they have predicted the Cubs going farther in the playoffs than the Cardinals.

Phyllis, part of a great Pinckneyville banking family, agreed. Whether it's restaurants or banking, nothing is the same.

Helen is also a breast cancer survivor. She says it took a while to get her swing back. "I have some hybrid clubs with a hollow handle and a heavier head," she says. "I don't have the strength any more so I let the head of the club hit the ball for me," she says.

She doesn't wear contact lenses or glasses. Her eyesight is good (it gets her through her annual driver's test).

"I'm slowing down a little. It's my legs," she says.

For Helen, growing older is no more than a bad habit which she has never had time to form. She misses her husband terribly. Theirs was a life well-lived together.

Jim served his country for 23 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring as a Captain. He served in World War II and he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with two stars, Good Conduct Medal with two service stars, American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He was also a veteran of the Korean War, where he received the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Pistol Sharpshooters Badge, the Korean Defense Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.

Helen says she doesn't mind if the foursome behind her plays through at Red Hawk. But, as you walk past Helen and Phyllis on the links of Perry County's grand old golf course you might want to tip your hat to celebrate the lives of these two great women.