MONROE — When Aster Assisted Living’s eldest resident, Helen Johnson, celebrates her 104th birthday on April 13, she’ll be joined by family and close friends. She’ll also be awaiting a phone call from another close friend that lives 4,000 miles away in Germany. Each year on Helen’s birthday, Ulli (Wagner) Gallon telephones her foreign exchange host. Ulli was the second AFS student to come to Monroe High School, doing so during the 1964-65 school year.

“Mom still loves telling people ‘I got a birthday call from Germany,’” said Janet Johnson, Helen’s middle daughter. 

Ulli calls Johnson more than just a host mother, though.

“Besides being a wonderful mother, she had an open heart and mind,” Ulli said. “Helen is not only my American mom, but also she is my granddaughter’s ‘Oma Helen.’ My granddaughter met ‘Grandma Helen’ when she was very little and was just as enthused about her as we all were.”

More than a century of lessons and memories

Helen was born on Wednesday, April 13, 1910 in Wiota and graduated top of her class at Argyle High School in 1938. She grew to appreciate the news at a young age and had dreamed of being a reporter for the New York Times. She kept tabs on the major events throughout her life — two world wars and other American conflicts, the Great Depression, the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11, among so many others.

“One thing she loves about reading the newspaper is obituaries,” Janet said. “You read these great stories about these people’s wonderful lives where people ended up being in their 100s, even 106.”

Helen has held a subscription to the Monroe Times for 78 nears, and she also subscribes to the Darlington Republican Journal and Wisconsin State Journal. She said the obituaries are the first section she turns to. 

“She doesn’t want to live longer than she can get print newspapers, and she doesn’t want to out-live the post office. Those are two things she counts on,” Janet said.

Helen sticks to a routine these days at Aster, and her daughters take turns visiting her each day.

Whatever the secret to longevity might be, Helen’s not taking it for granted.

“Take it a day at a time. You go to sleep at night and don’t know for sure if you’re going to wake up again,” she said. “But so what? You’ve had a good life. You have to be grateful for every minute you have.”

“You sure have made the best of your minutes,” Janet told Helen at the dinner table April 3.

Ulli, in a public letter about her “heroine”, Helen, called Helen’s 104 years on earth “a fully-lived life.” She said Helen and late husband Lester, who died in 1990, blessed their daughters — Joan, Janet and Jeri — with “the best examples of humanity (and) idealism,” and that they are always ready to help someone.

“She was with me in my heart for 59 years now — always being admired by me, and she has been my role model and inspiration throughout all these years,” Ulli said. “She was straight, caring, reliable, intelligent and interested in politics and the world. Her strong belief in the Lord also was admirable.”

When Helen turned 102 in 2022, Aster made a banner — which still hangs on her wall — to celebrate. 

“And then she got to be the oldest person to live here at 103, and now she’ll still be the oldest at 104. She’s raising the bar,” Janet cheered enthusiastically. 

Traversing new waters

Monroe’s first AFS student, Daniel from Argentina, came the year before and stayed with Kay and George Barry, neighbors to the Johnson family. 

“I thought, we have three daughters and a new house in a new neighborhood,” Janet said. “I thought it would be a terrific learning experience for my girls and my husband, too.”

When the Johnsons hosted Ulli for the 1964-65 school year, eldest daughter Joan was a senior, Janet a sophomore and Jeri in 8th grade. Janet said the program had certainly enriched her family’s lives.

It wasn’t easy for Ulli to come to America in the 1960s. Even though World War II had ended 20 years earlier, the war and atrocities were still in the minds of many Americans. Lester himself was a World War II veteran and was stationed in the South Pacific. He and Helen were married upon his return to the U.S. in 1945 following the end of the war.

On the other front of the war, Ulli’s father was a conscientious objector and did not fight in battle. Would that matter to her American hosts two decades later? Ulli came to Wisconsin unsure of how she’d be received but was quickly relieved of the tension in the Johnson household.

“Being an AFS student and coming from Germany in the sixties was special, as I was well aware of our German history and how thankful I could be, being accepted as an individual that wanted to build bridges between the people of all nations,” Ulli said. “Up until now this wish for being open-minded and accepting each other as my brother and sister no matter what religion, color, importance, age, richness or whatever has influenced and inspired me all my life, as I am now working with refugees that come to us to Germany for a better life. I hope that those times of our dark history, when too many felt superior to others, will never come back and will never be forgotten.”

Ulli and the Johnsons maintained their friendship throughout the years. In the late 1960s, Helen devised a frugal plan to get her husband and children to Germany to visit Ulli — as well as other destination sites like Amsterdam, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and England — by joining a traveling group of Lutheran pastors. Lester Johnson bought a Volkswagen bus for the month-plus vacation, and Ulli’s brother-in-law bought it back for just $100 less when they finished traveling. The Johnsons stayed with Ulli’s family, which all had homes in the same neighborhood in Germany.

Ulli said that Monroe — 60 years after she started her exchange visit — is still her wonderland and full of good memories.

“Especially the basketball state championships where I yelled my head off for our team,” she emphasized. “And I’ve never forgotten the tornado. That was a moment when I thought the end of the world was going to begin. Monroe simply is and was special.”

Ulli has maintained contact with many other Monroe friends over the years, too. First with postcards, photographs and letters, then with phone calls, and now with email. She’s returned for the 20th, 40th and 50th class reunions. 

Through her positive experience, Ulli passed down the importance of traveling abroad to her granddaughter, Anna, who was raised by Ulli after tragically losing her parents. In 2015, 12-year-old Anna came back to Monroe with Ulli for the Class of 1965’s 50th reunion. Anna later did a foreign exchange program of her own to Houston.

“AFS, to me, is something that I have loved forever. It has meant everything to me,” said Helen, a member of the Monroe Woman’s Club since 1954. 

The Monroe Woman’s Club hosts an AFS Night every year where members listen to the international students tell of their background and discuss their experience. This year’s AFS Night is April 10 at the Koning Events Center.

AFS program continues

Each school year, the School District of Monroe accepts five international exchange students, according to Lisa Hendrickson, former Spanish instructor at Monroe High School and active leader in Monroe’s AFS program and throughout in the region. The district has welcomed 167 exchange students from 50 countries and sent 49 students abroad to 30 countries since the AFS program brought the first student to Monroe in 1963.

“Monroe has continuously hosted AFS exchange students since it started with the exception of one year in the beginning and the COVID-19 year of 2020-21. This year there are four AFS exchange students in Monroe,” Hendrickson said.

They are: 

●  Carla Genath, Germany, hosted by Rick and Andrea Waski

●  Tata Butkhuzi, Georgia, hosted by Andrew and Nicole Josephs

●  Margherita Diana, Italy, hosted by Katie Lehto

●  Chloé Astorg, France, hosted by Daniel and Amber Talcott

Alexa Ortiz Mucharraz, Mexico, is the fifth exchange student, and is hosted by Jerry and Jacqueline Boss. She is here with the ICES program.

Also in the area, families in Argyle are hosting students from Indonesia, Germany and Kenya, and another female student from Switzerland is being hosted in New Glarus — America’s Little Switzerland.

“In Wisconsin, AFS is divided into four regions. Monroe is part of the Southern Wisconsin region, AFS World Flags. Forty-five international students are currently hosted in the World Flags region,” Hendrickson said.

“The history of hosting AFS students at MHS is incredible,” Janet Johnson said. “Lisa is keeping AFS in Monroe alive and well and going strong.”

Hosts sought for exchange students

“All types of families are encouraged to apply to host; there is no ‘typical’ AFS Host Family,” AFS states on its website. “Families can have small or teenage children at home, be empty nesters with adult children, or be couples with no children. Single adults and single parents are also welcome.” 

Students arrive in August and leave in June of the next year. Some students come for just one semester. 

Host families work with AFS to select the student they feel will be a good match, Hendrickson said. Local AFS volunteers support the exchange students and their host families throughout the year. 

There are several variations of foreign exchange programs available for students domestic and abroad. Among them is ASSE International Student Exchange Programs (ASSE). ASSE is looking for local families to host high school exchange students aged 15 to 18 from diverse countries such as Australia, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, and more.

ASSE Exchange Students, are carefully selected based on their academic achievements and personalities. Host families have the opportunity to choose a student from diverse backgrounds, countries, and interests. These students arrive with their own spending money and comprehensive insurance coverage.

“Whether you’re a young family, retired, a single parent, or empty-nesters, hosting a foreign exchange student presents an extraordinary chance to expand your family’s cultural horizons without ever leaving the comfort of your home,” ASSE said in a press release April 3.

To become an ASSE Host Family and to find out how to become involved with ASSE community, contact the ASSE Midwestern Regional Office at 1-800-736-1760 or visit www.host.asse.com to initiate a host family application. 

“Our students are excited to learn about their American host families, so why wait? Start the journey of welcoming your new son or daughter today,” the ASSE press release said.