originally posted on 5/17/2019
Long time ACE member Mike Helt recently passed after a long and severe bout with cancer. A graduate of Warwick High School, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, he proudly served in Vietnam with the United States Army. For 20 years he worked as a store manager for Weis Markets and then worked for 29 years at Dutch Valley Food Distributors as a marketing specialist, retiring in 2018. Mike was a pro-bowler, enjoyed playing ice hockey and was an avid hockey fan.
Photo: Courtesy B. Derek Shaw. View full-sized image.
Mike attended many ACE events over the years. He loved visiting amusement parks, riding roller coasters and often riding the best bumper cars in the country (in his opinion) at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Needless to say, Mike was a madman on the bumper cars, even putting a few out of commission!
The past couple of years Mike and his wife Bev would work (or volunteer) weekends in the catering department at Knoebels, driving an hour plus from their home. He did some behind-the-scenes work for Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) on occasion. He also surveyed rides for B&M for several years. He was assigned several parks on the East Coast and enjoyed riding the coasters, talking to the people waiting in line to ride and getting feedback to send to B&M. One of his favorite perks was being able to ride with the maintenance workers at the various parks.
Mike was most proud of creating his very own "Coaster World,” an O-scale operating amusement park. After having the idea in his head for years, he finally began building it in the basement of his Lititz, Pennsylvania, home in 2004. Mike created a 12-foot-by-18-foot display that was featured in the 2005 Summer issue of RollerCoaster! In 2007, Coaster World was moved to his new home in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He began the task of building a new platform and designing a new, larger layout in November 2007. After working for many hours evenings and weekends, he had most of it completed in time for an open house the week after Christmas 2007. His 12-feet-by-28-feet larger display had nine coasters and more than 80 operating rides. On three occasions (2009, 2010 and 2015), he and Bev opened their home the day after Eastcoaster to let people visit Coaster World. In fact, earlier this decade, a Dutch Valley customer from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, included Coaster World as a stop on their employee/spouse “Christmas Outing.” Their 66 passenger coach pulled into the cul-de-sac on Mike’s street for passengers to take a look! Coaster World was his pride and joy. He loved nothing more than being able to share it with others.
Mike was a fun, zany and creative person. He was always full of laughter and his own shenanigans. The wheels in his head were always turning. I will miss him greatly.
— B. Derek Shaw
@#$%&!
#ACENews