Helen started skating in Saturday classes at the Winter Garden after seeing Sonja Henie movies. She represented the St. Louis Skating Club, but in the summers and during holidays she trained in Lake Placid, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Cleveland. Before the 1952 Olympic Trials she trained with Eugene Turner and roomed with another of his skaters, the legend Tenley Albright. She skated in eight U.S. nationals from the Novice to Senior levels from 1945 to 1952, placing fourth in Novice (1945) and Junior (1946), sixth or seventh in the 1948 Olympic Trials, and third in the 1952 nationals as a Senior Lady. In another of St. Louis’ near misses, she placed fourth in the 1952 Olympic Trials, missing the Olympic team by one spot. Her nationals third place qualified her for the 1952 World Championships, but in those days only Olympic teams had their way paid to competitions, and her parents decided it was not worth the expense of paying her way, and that of her coach, to Worlds since she had only placed fourth in the Olympic Trials. She was the ballerina whose forte was her artistry; she trained with the top dancers from the Muny under instructors from the Ballet Russe in Monte Carlo. She did double jumps through the flip, split jumps, spreadeagles, flying camels, and camel spins. She observes that the difference between then and now is that in the days before television changed everything, they were true amateurs who skated “for the love of the sport.”
Helen met John Nightingale at Midwestern sectionals and they became a couple in 1950, then got married in 1952. John, who was from St. Paul, had competed as a Novice Man in the 1946 nationals and in Junior Pairs. He also was a member of the team that won the gold medal in Fours in 1947, 1948, and 1950. He was the Junior Pairs champion with Janet Gerhauser in 1950, and they won silver at the Senior level at 1951 and 1952 Nationals, placing eighth at 1951 Worlds. They placed sixth in the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway. When John retired from the military in 1974 he and Helen returned to St. Louis and started coaching. Helen has been coaching group lessons at the Creve Coeur ice rink ever since. They have mentored many of the top skaters in St. Louis for the Creve Coeur Figure Skating Club.