Helen Michaelis - Life and Family

Life and Family

Helen Mary Hall, daughter of Fred S. Hall (1864–1946) and Florence Black (b1879), was born on a ranch in Kimble County, Texas. Her father, Fred S. Hall, had come to Texas from England to raise horses. Besides Helen, her parents had three boys, all younger than she. In 1917, the family moved to a better ranch in Concho County, Texas, near Eden.

Helen attended college at the University of Texas, and spent the summer of 1928 teaching riding at Camp Ekalela near Estes Park in Colorado. When she returned to Texas, she rounded up a string of horses she had raised and trained on the family ranch, and drove them from Eden to Austin. She first rented at the Western Field Riding Club, and later bought her own riding academy. In 1932, she married Max G Michaelis, Jr., sold her stables and most of her horses, and moved to Mexico with him. Helen stayed active in the livestock business after marrying Michaelis, and continued to raise and train horses in Mexico. They later moved back to the Michaelis Ranch in Kyle, Texas. Helen died July 26, 1965 at St. David's Hospital, Austin, TX, and is buried at Kyle Cemetery, Kyle, TX.