HELEN LENGFELD – Founder, PWGA
On June 26 1898, in San Francisco, California, Issac and
Sadie Foorman brought into the world a daughter who they
named Helen. As Helen was growing up, the family wintered
in Southern California and stayed at the Raymond Hotel in
Pasadena, California. By the time Helen was 8 years old she
had the old gals at the hotel clucking to her mother about what
a tomboy Helen was, because she was the Catcher on the
boy’s choose-up Baseball team. The hotel also had a 9-hole
Golf Course with Sand Greens and Helen’s mother decided,
as long as her child was athletically inclined, that Golf would
be a much more ladylike sport for Helen than baseball. So,
she presented Helen with two boxes of Golf Balls, and
marched her off to the Golf Pro for Golf Lessons. This was
the start of a great Golf Career. (Helen has been honored by
“Golf Digest” magazine as one of the five most influential women in golf).
Like most young ladies of that day, Helen was educated in a private school. In 1918, she
married Louis Lengfeld, a 25-year-old Stanford University Graduate. Louis later graduated
from the University of California’s School of Pharmacy and ran two of San Francisco’s largest
prescription pharmacies. He later went into the Real Estate and Development business in San
Mateo and Hillsborough, California. Helen and Louis had one Son, Lou and two Daughters,
Frances and Kathleen. Helen was widowed in 1956.
Helen inherited her desire to help people from her Grandmother, Helena, who devoted her
limitless energy to charitable works in the early days in San Francisco.
During World War II, Helen traveled across the country organizing over 400 volunteer groups
to help with the war effort. In the years after the war she made many more trips across the
country signing up additional groups.
Just two days after the Veterans Administration Voluntary Service was formed, Helen was
involved in what is now called the Menlo Park Division of Palo Alto Veterans Administration
Medical Center. She founded the United Voluntary Services (UVS) organization and was
elected its first National President and was elected to that office every year thereafter. Today,
the organization has over 40,000 members working for hospitalized Veterans in communities
across the United States.
In 1946, Helen combined her love of Golf with the Volunteer work she loved to do and founded
the United Voluntary Services Golf Swing Clubs. The first one was at the Menlo Park division
PWGA REP Kit – Updated 11/2014
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