Helen Cecilia Spitzer
November 3, 2008 on 12:52 pm | In Obituaries | 8 Comments
HELEN CECILIA SPITZER
September 24, 1922 to October 31, 2008
Family and friends, knowing Helen Spitzer’s door was always open, flocked to the historic old Colonial at 2540 West Royalton Road over the years. Helen’s hospitality, all say, was as huge and welcoming as her generous heart. Unfortunately, that heart gave out on Friday, Oct. 31, 2008, when Helen Cecilia Spitzer, 86, died unexpectedly at home, her loving caregivers, Julie and April, with her at the time. Spending her last hours in the place she loved best - the 105-year-old restored residence in Brentwood Lake Village, OH, a community developed by her late husband John A. Spitzer and his brothers - was as Helen would have wanted it, her family said.
“The wind beneath his wings”
Imbued with the kind of sturdy Midwestern values and strong Catholic faith that can sometimes seem quaint and old-fashioned in this day and age, Helen was a traditional housewife who stayed home to raise five children, while her husband worked long hours to build the family business. It paid off. John Spitzer, former Chairman of the Spitzer Organization, a group of companies encompassing automotive retailing and real estate development, turned his father’s modest hardware store in Grafton, OH into multiple auto franchises around the country, eventually becoming one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers.
The Family Store