Sterling is Helkena's grandfather, but he is much more than that to her, he is her Papa. Helkena's parents died a mysterious death when she was about 5 years old, her grandfather then adopted her. Sterling always knew Helkena was a smart one, she had those little kid logic puzzles conquered when she was just 2 years old and there was NO stopping her there. Sterling would give her the most complex and the most challenging things to do, she would have those done in no time at all. Being on the farm with Papa, she loved those times with him. Besides her Papa, she had all types of "friends" as well on the farm, lots of them smelled funny too!

 

Sterling wasn't always a farmer or even a gentle person, war does that to a person sometimes. It was his 10 years in the Army during a war that a lot of American's would just soon forget about, Sterling thought that as well about those times he was in Vietnam. Then finally getting to "come home" only to be spat upon, called a "baby killer" and worse. But Sterling took it all in stride as he did with most everything else.

 

He met his future wife, a woman of his dreams, Lily, such a lovely name he thought for she was a lovely person. They ended up buying a small farm in Mill Creek  to "get away from it all", but not to far from Los Diego. They had a son, Jack, then a wonderful daughter-in-law Doris. Then came along his granddaughter Helkena. Tragically Lily died do to complications of heart disease. Then another tragic blow was the mysterious death of Helkena parents. But Sterling did what he knew was right and raise Helkena as his own daughter.