Poncé Cruse took over her mother Heloise's household advice column and brand after her mother passed away in 1977. While staying true to her mother's vision, Poncé has shaped the column in her own way over the past 38 years. She uses everyday language to connect with readers and puts extensive research into backing each tip. Though she cannot please all readers, Poncé has expanded Heloise into over 500 newspapers internationally and authored many books, keeping her mother's legacy alive while carving out her own place.

1. LongbeforeIbecameawriter,IlivedinLansing,Michigan,
where I graduated from Everett High School, the same high
school that Magic Johnson attended. At lunchtime, I would
oftengazeintotheglassshowcaseinfrontofthegymnasium,
astounded both at Johnson’s high school trophies and also
the colossal size 15 autographed sneakers that were stored
there. Magic Johnson had left a legacy that no other Everett
High School graduate has surpassed...that, and some very
large shoes that are probably still in front of the gymnasium
today.
I can imagine that growing up as the daughter of the
famous Heloise must have been similar, staring at a pair of
verylargeshoesandwonderinghowintheworldanyoneelse
could possibly fill them. On the day the original Heloise died
in 1977, her daughter Poncé was asked that very question.
Would she be willing to fill her mother’s shoes? Invariably,
her answer was, “Yes, but on my own terms.”
Poncé (pronounced pawn–see) had been working for
her mother for years, while simultaneously attending Texas
State University in San Marcos, studying math and business.
Her intention was to become a math teacher, but her destiny
was to become the next Heloise. 38 years later, Poncé has
not only succeeded in keeping the Heloise legacy alive, but
she has also managed to stay true to the heart of her mother’s
bequest while carving out a place therein uniquely her own.
TheORIGINALHeloise
From her first day on earth, Heloise (born Eloise) knew
how to make an entrance. On May 4, 1919, which was
coincidentally her mother Amelia’s birthday, Eloise and her
identical twin sister Louise made their way into the world
in Waco, TX. The hospital staff was astonished not only by
identical twins being born, but also by the fact that Amelia
also had an identical twin sister named Ophelia. The oddity
of an identical twin giving birth to identical twins on her
birthday was simply unbelievable.
Just as the first cloud before a rainstorm, Eloise’s peculiar
birth was an omen of things to come. Eloise was a trailblazer,
Written By: Rebecca Canfield
Photos Courtesy Of: Heloise.com
22 | July 2015

2. often shucking social norms and venturing out on her own without a
thought. In high school, she was the only female to enroll in shop class,
where she received an A. After high school (between 1938 and 1939),
Eloise attended the Texas School of Fine Arts, Felt and Tarrant Business
College, and Draughn’s Business College. In 1940, she married Air
Corps glider pilot Adolph Risky. During her marriage to Risky, Eloise
suffered two miscarriages. Fearing that she could not bear children, the
Riskys adopted a son named Louis.
According to Poncé, these years were a rather traumatic time for
Eloise, who stayed in Texas with little Louis while her husband was off
fighting. Her husband’s job was quite dangerous, and when he left her
to go fight in World War II, she knew almost certainly that he would
not return. Eloise spent her days at home worrying, until one day she
came to the painful conclusion that she alone would eventually have to
support herself and her young son. One of the Riskys’ neighbors was
an insurance salesman, who years later explained to Eloise’s daughter
Poncé that Eloise had taken out a second insurance policy on Risky
shortly before he fought in the battle Operation Market Garden. She
didsotoensurethatshecouldfinanciallysupporthersonifherhusband
did not return.
By 1943, her fears were confirmed, and Risky was shot down near
Belgium. A new widow still grieving but with a small son at home to
take care of, Eloise struck out on rocky new ground as a single parent,
taking each painful step one day at a time.
Ironically, the second insurance policy turned out to be more harmful
than useful. Word had gotten around town that Eloise had inherited
money, and in return, men came out of the woodwork to court the
wealthy young widow. Eloise finally decided to give her father the
insurance money in trust, so she could honestly tell men that she was
not rich.
In 1946, Eloise finally found a man she could trust. At a party in Fort
Worth, Eloise met Army Air Corps Captain Marshall (Mike) Cruse.
The soft-spoken Cruse balanced the impulsive and ostentatious Eloise,
and the two were married within three weeks.
“Daddy was a real gentleman,” said Poncé. “He was the only man that
never asked her about the money.”
Eloise suffered three more miscarriages but finally, on April 15, 1951,
shegavebirthtoadaughternamedPoncéKiahMarchelleBowlesCruse.
She was named Poncé in honor of her grandmother from Florence.
Kiah was short for Hezekiah, another family name, and Marshelle was
in honor of her father, Marshall. Some speculate that Eloise gave Poncé
so many names because she knew she would never be able to name
another child.
The pregnancy and the birthing process was strenuous. Poncé was
born prematurely after 32 hours of strenuous, active labor. Eloise had
to have a blood transfusion and was given Marshall’s blood since the
two had the same blood type. Doctors speculated that the strain on
little Poncé from being in the birth canal for so long had put too much
pressure on her head, and she was born severely cross-eyed. Poncé
endured eight surgeries throughout her life to correct the problem, and
though it is mostly unnoticeable today, she still has vision problems.
From her
first day on earth,
Heloise knew
how to make an
entrance.
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July 2015 | 23

3. After several years of moving from place to
place including China, Virginia, and Waco,
TX the Cruses' settled in Honolulu, Hawaii in
1958. Eloise, desiring to make her home like
her own mother’s house, but having no idea
how to do so, got together regularly with a
group of friends to exchange household hints.
One day, the ladies discussed how nice it
would be to have a newspaper column that
would exchange such household hints. Then
at a cocktail party, Eloise had mentioned the
idea to a colonel who laughed in her face and
bet her 100 dollars she could not get a job at a
newspaper. The taunting was all the urging she
needed.
Eloisehadsomebusinesscardsmade,dressed
in her best suit, hat, and gloves, and marched
into the Honolulu Advertiser demanding to see
the editor. After offering to work for free for a
month, the editor finally gave her a chance, and
named her column “readers’ exchange.”
At first the column gave all kinds of advice,
but household hints were the most popular,
so the column was renamed “Heloise’s Hints”
with a double H. The name Heloise stuck,
and the column became a hit. Within three
years, circulation rose by 40 percent, and in
June 1961, she was featured in Time magazine.
Seeing the feature in Time, the editor of King
Features Syndicate suggested Heloise go into
syndication. By August, "Hints from Heloise"
was national, reaching over 158 papers by
1962.
In the early 1960s, Heloise published her
first book, Heloise’s Housekeeping Hints and
her second book, Heloise’s Kitchen Hints. was
published. By this time, her family was living in
Arlington, Virginia but were looking for a place
to eventually retire. In 1966, the Cruses moved
to San Antonio, Texas.
After many years of personal differences,
Heloise and Marshall divorced in 1968. Two
years later, Heloise married for a third time
to A.L. Reese, a businessman from Houston.
However, the marriage was short-lived, as
Reese did not want to move to San Antonio
and Heloise did not want to move to Houston,
and the two divorced.
Suffering from health concerns her entire
life, Heloise’s body had taken a toll. Seven
miscarriages, a stomach growth, heart disease,
a cracked vertebrae, a nervous disorder, a
painful facial tic called tic douloureux, and
arteriosclerosis had weakened Heloise. After
consulting many doctors, Heloise knew
she was in her final years, and quietly began
planning her funeral. Poncé came home to help
run Heloise’s Hints.
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24 | July 2015

4. Over the years, Heloise had grown distant from her twin Louise, who
reportedly wanted to develop her own advice column similar to Ann
Landers and Dear Abby. Opposed to the idea, Heloise had stopped
speaking to her twin years prior, and, as a result, most of Heloise’s
friends and colleagues had no idea she had a twin.
According to Poncé, when Heloise did pass away in on December 28,
1977, the appearance of her twin Louise at the funeral caused quite a
buzz, as many attendees thought they saw Heloise walking in the door.
“I heard one person say, ‘Only Heloise would fake her own death to
see what kind of publicity she would get!’,” said Poncé. “Mother and
Aunt Louise looked so much alike that no one could tell the difference.”
HeloiseTODAY
After Heloise’s death, Poncé took over the column as Heloise.
Formerly called Heloise II, at the readers’ request, Poncé dropped the II
and became simply Heloise. 38 years later, Heloise is still going strong.
Poncé does not regret becoming Heloise, but she is glad that she has
been able to do so in her own way.
Staying true to her mother’s vision, Poncé, who is now called Heloise
bythegeneralpublic,butPoncébyherfriends,stillutilizesatremendous
amount of research to backup each hint, although her writing style is
her own. Differing from the original Heloise who would often call her
readers endearments such as “my precious ladybugs,” and who mainly
geared her advice toward housewives, Poncé’s columns found their own
commonality among readers. By using everyday terminologies such as
doggone, doohickey, and thingamajig, Poncé was able to find her own
way to connect to everyday readers while opening her hints to a wider
audience.
A few things have indeed stayed the same. Poncé loves research as
much as her mother did and still puts an extreme amount of effort into
making sure each hint is backed by science, experiments, and research.
For example, when giving advice to spray cooking spray on a candle-
stick holder before lighting a candle to make candle wax easier to
remove, Poncé employed the advice of local fire marshals. When a hint
about how to preserve the life of batteries came into question, Poncé
called upon the assistance of engineers and experts in the field, just to
make sure her information was accurate.
Still, Poncé admits that she cannot please everyone. Even when
presented with convincing data, some readers are still convinced that
their own way of doing things is the right way, and will write and tell
her so.
“I’ve learned in doing this that sometimes [people] just
want to be heard,” said Poncé.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to let them vent.”
Yet in the nearly 40 years that she has been Heloise, Poncé has taken
the name to great heights. Heloise now runs in over 500 newspapers, in
the United States and internationally, seven days a week. Additionally,
she has written 14 different books, is a contributing editor for Good
Housekeeping, and her monthly column "Ask Heloise" and has appeared
on many national TV shows such as David Letterman, The Today
Show, The View, and CNN. She also regularly gives speeches to various
businesses and is involved with many different charity organizations.
“I have been very lucky to do some extraordinary things, and a lot of
them have to do with the military,” said Poncé.
Currently, Poncé makes appearances for battered woman's shelters
and works alongside the American Heart Association in honor of her
mother, who suffered from heart disease. She is also heavily involved in
military family support services, as was her mother.
Ponce has been happily married to the same man since February 13,
1981. She still lives in San Antonio with her husband David Evans, a
plumbingcontractorandhotairballoonenthusiast.AlthoughHeloise
has no children of her own, partly due to her busy schedule, her
husband was a single parent when the pair met, and she helped
raise her step-son, Russell.
Today, Poncé is still as busy as ever, but still calls or emails
readers occasionally to follow up on questions, or to
discuss hints they claim did not work. Her desire, even
after all these years, is still to please her readers and to
keep Heloise relevant. In her occasional moments of
free time, she can be found riding her motorcycle,
skydiving, or cruising in her husband’s hot air
balloon. Even when she is busy being Heloise,
this busy maven tries, as often as she can, to make
time just to enjoy being Poncé.
For more information
on Heloise,
visit www.heloise.com
LIFESTYLES
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