Helen Hart, 76; Matriarch of Wrestling Family
Ed Varner
From Pro Wrestling Torch.com:
Helen Hart, mother of Bret and Owen, dies at age 76
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
November 04, 2001 3:31 pm
Helem Hart died this morning at about 3:30 a.m. MST after being in critical
condition and on life support the past few weeks. She had been staying in
Calgary hospital since suffering complications from diabetes and a systematic
chain reaction within her body of other problems including seizures on Sept. 28
and Oct. 12. Family members had time to prepare for her death as doctors had
advised them she was unlikely to recover from the seizures.
Hart, the wife of former pro wrestling Stu Hart and mother of famous wrestling
sons Bret Hart and Owen Hart, may be best known as the target of Jerry Lawler
jokes a few years ago on WWF TV.
In a "Torch Talk" interview in the Torch Newsletter this summer, Lawler talked
about the fun he had telling jokes about Helen during his feud with Bret in the
early '90s.
"(W)hen I knew that we were going to have Moolah and Mae, or Bret Hart's
parents, yeah, I would brush up on some old jokes. Quite frankly, Moolah, Mae,
and Bret Hart's parents were the most fun. They were the best sports about it.
They took it graciously and were some great fodder for material... Stu Hart,
his wife, and Bret have been in wrestling all of their lives. They knew that it
was all part of the business. Once again, it made that angle and that feud
believable because that was one of the things that people can relate to. They
were saying, "Man, if I were Bret and somebody was insulting my parents, my
dear old parents, I'd want to kick their butt." So that was where you combine
that entertainment with the 'rasslin. They really thought they were going to
see Bret kick my butt and that's what they wanted to see, simply because I made
those insults and things about his elderly parents."
Helen had to endure tragedy and family in-fighting in recent years, including
the death of her youngest son, Owen, when a stunt went wrong at a WWF PPV. She
also was placed in the middle of a family feud among her sons and daughters,
who were split in their allegience to the WWF after the Bret Hart Survivor
Series Swerve four years ago.
Ed Varner
________________________
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Early Sunday morning, Helen Hart died in Foothills Hospital in Calgary from
complications following a stroke. She was 76.
Hart first entered the hospital back on September 29th, feeling groggy and
experiencing trouble speaking. She went in and out of a coma in the weeks that
followed, and the family had been prepared for the worst since early October.
She leaves behind a legendary wrestling family, headed by her husband of 53
years, Stu Hart. Together, they had 12 children, all of whom worked in the pro
wrestling business in some capacity during the years, mostly through the
family's Stampede Wrestling promotion.
Helen Hart was the backbone to the Stampede promotion, handling all the
financial affairs, setting up posters, arranging details, while Stu took care
of the wrestling product.
Almost any wrestler who worked in the Stampede territory can tell tales of
visiting the massive Hart House, a mansion on a hill in outer Calgary. Earlier
this month, Jacques Rougeau Jr. told SLAM! Wrestling of his six weeks in
Calgary when he was just a teen. "Every Sunday, I had dinner with the Harts and
the cats," he said with fond memories.
On the Stampede Wrestling web site, former NWA World Champion Harley Race
called Helen Hart "a princess among pirates".
"Helen is as fine a lady I have ever met. I started coming here in the 70's
for at least 10 Stampede weeks. She did everything possible to make sure my
stay here was comfortable. She treated me every bit as nice as a son. There are
not enough words to describe her kindness. She is a unique person, and she is
blessed more than as a human being," Race wrote. "I remember being here one
time and Stu, Helen and myself were in the car. We could see the northern
lights, and Helen turned to Stu and said that they were the same lights he
proposed to her under. I have never seen a couple with so much love for one
another."
Born in New York City to Harry J. Smith, a medal contender for the mile in the
1912 Olympics, Stu met Helen in NYC after a stint in World War II. They were
married during a blizzard in New York City in 1947.
Stu's nickname for Helen was 'Tigerbell'.
Funeral arrangements are not known at this time, though a funeral is expected
on Friday.
Condolences are being accepted by mail through Bret Hart's office at 74094,
144-555 Strathcona Blvd SW, Calgary, Alberta, T3H 3B6 and online at
www.stampedewrestling.net.
Fans who want to talk about wrestling's loss can visit our SLAM! Wrestling
Chat section.
We'll have much, much more on Helen Hart with the reports from the Calgary Sun
Monday. Please check out our amazing Helen Hart photo gallery, constructed with
the help of Bob Leonard of Stampede Wrestling.