One of rodeos great early trick riders Helen Panzella has passed away

Helen Teskar Panzella died in a hospital in St. Cloud, Florida on September 18th. She
was born and raised in the Bronx in New York where she first saw a rodeo at Madison
Square Garden. When watching the trick riders perform she knew then she must learn
to do it. Without the money to take riding lessons she learned to ride by renting a horse
from a Bronx stable, taking it away from watching eyes and practiced tricks she had
seen the professionals perform. By the late 1940s Helen was a performing trick rider.
She married Nick Panzella, a Bronx steer wrestler in the early 1950s. They worked for
twenty years rodeoing up and down the East Coast from Florida to Canada. The tall, slim
cowgirl also taught herself to trick rope and performed with Angelo Iodice known as A.
J. Silvers. She was a PRCA member and Gold Card member. Nick died in 2006. She is
survived by her twin sister, Lou Johnson, and brother George Teskar. She was cremated
and a memorial service was held at the St. Luke St Peter Episcopal Church in St. Cloud
on September 19th.