Helm Sisters

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="007c8863.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#999966" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Helm Sisters<B>   </B></FONT><A HREF="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org/"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Webb City"><U><B>Webb City School</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Webb City Teachers"><U><B>Webb City Teachers</B></U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="024f4460.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Honored Webb City Teacher and Tablet Erected to Her</div> <div> <B>Accompanying illustration shows a later portrait of Miss Ella Helm and a photograph of the bronze tablet</B></div> <div> <B>erected last week in the high school auditorium in honor of the fact that she has taught thirty-eight years in</B></div> <div> <B>the Webb City schools.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> It is estimated that in these 38 years probably 3,000 Webb City boys and girls have called Miss Helm their</B></div> <div> <B>teacher.  Hundreds of these, many now business men and women with families, are still living in this city, as</B></div> <div> <B>well as throughout the breadth and width of the land.  Many of these contributed to the cost of putting up the </B></div> <div> <B>bronze tablet in her honor, but the movement was sponsored particularly by the class of '23.</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Source: Webb City Daily Sentinel,</B></I><B> September 15, 1925</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Martha Helm, A Teacher Here 50 Years Dies</B></div> <div> <B> Miss Martha Lena Helm, 81 years old, respected and beloved retired Webb City public school teacher</B></div> <div> <B>who instructed hundreds of Webb Citians of three generations during her half century of public service,</B></div> <div> <B>passed away last night at 11:55 o'clock in Jane Chinn hospital where she had been a patient for eleven</B></div> <div> <B>days.  Her death was attributed to pneumonia.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> Miss Helm was regarded as an outstanding teacher throughout her long career and was a powerful and</B></div> <div> <B>beneficent force in molding the character of her students.  Her teaching ability, coupled with lifelong </B></div> <div> <B>devotion to high principles of conduct and character, marked Miss Helm as the finest type citizen and</B></div> <div> <B>education. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> She began her teaching career in Webb City in 1892 and retired in 1942.  From 1892 until 1910 she </B></div> <div> <B>taught in the city's elementary schools and served as a principal.  She then was elected to the high school</B></div> <div> <B>faculty as a teacher of mathematics when the high school was located where the Smith garment factory</B></div> <div> <B>now stands.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> Miss Martha, as she was called by her many friends to distinguish her from her sisters, Misses Ella and</B></div> <div> <B>Margaret Helm, with whom she had always resided, was born August 18, 1871, in Clinton, Mo., the daughter</B></div> <div> <B>of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fielding Helm.  She resided in Parsons, Kan., before coming here as a young</B></div> <div> <B>woman of 21 in 1892.  She came here to teach and be with her sister, Ella, who had arrived in Webb City</B></div> <div> <B>a few years earlier.  Miss Ella died in 1936, the dean of Missouri teachers.  Miss Margaret Helm, who </B></div> <div> <B>maintained the family home at 717 W. First Street for her two illustrious sister, followed Miss Ella in death.</B></div> <div> <B> Miss Martha received her A. B. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1923.  While a member of the</B></div> <div> <B>WCHS faculty she organized the Girl Reserves organization and the Victorian Literary Society.  For many </B></div> <div> <B>years she was sponsor of the senior class and chaperone for members of the girls' basketball teams during</B></div> <div> <B>the 20's.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> A long-time member of the First Presbyterian Church, Miss Helm attended the Women's Bible Class as </B></div> <div> <B>long as her health permitted.  She was the organizer and only surviving charter member of Chapter AY. P. E. O.</B></div> <div> <B>Sisterhood.  She organized the chapter in 1909 and served as the order's first president.  Through the years</B></div> <div> <B>she had been an active and enthusiastic member.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> In 1949, Miss Helm was elected as an honorary member of the Delta Kappa Gamma sorority, an international</B></div> <div> <B>honorary society for key women teachers.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> She had been a member of the Eastern Star for many years.  Following the death of her sisters, Miss Helm</B></div> <div> <B>disposed of the family home, and in recent months had resided at a nursing home at 214 East Daugherty Street.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> Surviving are five nieces, Miss Florence Helm of Royal Heights, Mrs. A. N. Ivon and Mrs. Gerald Lynch of Chicago,</B></div> <div> <B>Mrs. Charles Keys of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Mrs. A. D. Smith of Midland, Texas; and one nephew, Thomas</B></div> <div> <B>Helm of Cincinnati, Ohio.  Funeral services will be announced by the Hedge-Lewis Funeral Home.</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Source: Webb City Sentinel</B></I><B>, February 3, 1953</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>