Bio:Helen V. Wesson

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Helen Alice Vivarttas joined the American Amateur Press Association in 1938, at the age of 19, where she published a short story titled "O'Malley's Kid" in his February 1938 issue of American Journal. The story won the Fiction Laureate Award for 1938, starting a long career in amateur journalism. She was involved with FAPA since 1946. Her birth year is often reported as 1922, based on a guess by a friend writing a tribute to her, but the birthdate here is verified from the Social Security Death Index. She appears in the 1930 census as a 10-year old in Weehawken, New Jersey, the daughter of Percy & Cecelia Vivarttas. She married Sheldon C. Wesson (1922-1997) on Sept. 4, 1943, shortly before he left to serve in WWII. She edited a FAPA fanzine "Pendragon", which published at least 12 issues, and wrote the biography of H.P.L. listed here. A tribute to her writes:

"Devotees of Howard P. Lovecraft will be forever in debt to Helen for her extensive biography "The Phenomenon of H.P.L." which occupied ten 9 x 12 pages in The Fossil, vol. 5 (no. 154) for July, 1957, and for which she received The Fossil Literary Award." (from The Fossils). Chavey 05:15, 6 July 2015 (UTC)