Stephanie Helstein's Page

Stephanie Constantine Helstein
Born: 1895, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mother: Catherine Marie Constantine
Father: Gregory Alphonse Sampson, biologist
Sister: Elizabeth Catherine Constantine
Husband (estranged): William David Helstein

At age one Stephanie's mother, Catherine, and father, Gregory, separated and Catherine moved to NYC with the children. Alphonse soon died in Germany in a laboratory accident.

Stephanie had a difficult childhood growing up in a single-parent family which had become estranged from the extended family. There was a stigma attached to having a working mother who had given birth to two daughters out of wedlock. She also resented living in the shadow of her older sister who experienced both notoriety and discrimination. Her dream was to move away from her family as soon as she would be able.

Stephanie found an opportunity to move back to Copenhagen to study music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. She put herself through school by working for the noted photographer and filmmaker Peter Elfelt (born Peter Lars Petersen). After graduating, she married Professor Doctor William Helstein who became choral director of the Akademisk Orkester og Kor (Academic Orchestra and Choir) in 1935.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Elfelt
http://www.dkdm.dk/
http://akademisk.kor.dk/aok02.htm

Stephanie visited Rivet Town many times when her sister, Lisbeth, was the Rivet Town Librarian. Following Lisbeth's capture by pirates, Stephanie and Lisbeth's fiance, Greywind Heron followed the trail, with the help of Lady Renate Marchionne and Rivet Town friend, Lady Donna Huddleston, as far as Antiquity Tortuga where the trail went cold.

Traveling through Antiquity Finlandia, Stephanie was befriended by pirates, and when she received word that her husband, William, had left her for a younger singer, Stephanie took up the pirate life. When war broke out between pirates and royal forces stationed in Citadel, Stephanie concentrated on her photography. Now she has become a photographer noted in her own right in Antiquity.

And, believe it or not, she tries to keep a lower profile than her over-achiever sister.