Helen (Leach) Cloyd at Work

Helen (Leach) Cloyd was a working woman. At age 19, while still living with her grandfather, she was a bookkeeper in a dry goods store in Brooklyn. By the time of her death in 1957, she was the manager of cosmetics department at a Cunningham's Drugstore in Detroit. Judging by this photo, she worked in an additional retail establishment as well.Working women were not the majority in the early to mid 1900s. I wonder if Helen was ever given the option to be a stay-at-home mom. Perhaps she simply enjoyed the independence and freedom involved in having her own career.