What
to be
its like
wed to
m r n rss r?5 n v r
f;v.-,v. -f
1. - V
:mmmmm
Their way of life
was changed radically
when William G. Giesse
ignored his y
wife's wish
for a new stove.
One of the first prizes received by Mrs. Helen Giesse after
being named Mrs. America was a congratulatory kiss from Bill.
by Al Ostrow
I t was a wife's dream come true but a
husband's nightmare.
Radiant with triumph, Mrs. Helen
Giesse was escorted to a throne of flowers
and crowned "Mrs. America."
Her husband, William G. Giesse, sat
numbly silent in the cheering audience
that packed the gaily decorated Memorial
Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He
experienced the same mixed emotions he
had known when he survived a wartime
mid-air collision of four Flying Fortresses
over Frankfurt, Germany.
What did he think?
"I thought I'd been hit by a freight
train. I wondered what would happen
next. Helen . . . the children . . . my own
life... How would all this affect us?"
Giesse felt a friendly tug at his sleeve.
It was the cheerful husband of a previous
Mrs. America.
"Listen, fellow," the predecessor soothed,
"I know cactly how you feel. You're
disturbed. You're afraid your whole life
is going to be disrupted. It will be. But
don't worry it won't be as bad as you
think right now."
Now that his beautiful wife has com
pleted about half her one-year reign,
Giesse is prepared to pass that same solace
along to whoever is the husband of the
next Mrs. America.
He can also chuckle at the thought that
flashed through his mind when Mrs.
Giesse was crowned: "Why didn't I buy
her that stove when she asked for it?"
If he had, their five-year-old daughter,
Susan, might never have had occasion to
Billy,. 9, and Susan, 5, like Mommy's new
title, but Bobby, I, reserves judgment.
inquire, "Mommy, why don't you wear
your crown all the time?"
"Helen wanted a new stove," Giesse re
called. "Being the usual kind of husband,
I let her request go in one ear and out the
other. Then she read that a new gas
range was one of the prizes for the local
Mrs. America contest."
Bill Giesse was busy changing jobs
he's an advertising agency account ex
ecutive when his wife was chosen "Mrs.
Cleveland." He was still absorbed in the
problems of his new clients when a tele
phone call from Columbus told him Helen
had just been named "Mrs. Ohio."
The new stove arrived at their neat
white three-bedroom home in suburban
Mayfield Heights, along with a new re
refrigerator, a $500 wardrobe, and a new
way of life. Absorbed in preparing an ad
vertising campaign and coping with his
problems as a member of the Mayfield
Heights city council, Giesse didn't feel the
full impact of the change until that fateful
night at Fort Lauderdale.
"My wife is a celebrity!" The thought
hit him like a bolt,of lightning.
Since then, Bill Giesse has heard him
self introduced hundreds of times as "Mrs.
America's husband."
"I don't dislike it or enjoy it," he says
frankly. "It's a wonderful achievement for
Helen something that will always add
sunshine to her life. But we both realize
that it's not the most important thing that
ever happened to us."
Both are looking forward rather eagerly
to the day next May when a new Mrs.
America is crowned, and the Giesse family
can resume normal living.
14 Family Weekly. November 23, I95