Helen Tucker Smith

Helen Tucker Smith, 91, author of Then the Sun Came Up, and longtime resident of Raleigh, died of cancer on Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Born Helen Polston in Raeford, NC, and educated at Louisburg College, she met and married her first husband, attorney Irvin B. Tucker, Jr, in Whiteville. When Mr. Tucker was appointed Assistant U.S. District Attorney, the couple and two young sons moved to Raleigh, where they remained when Mr. Tucker went into private practice.

Then the Sun Came Up is the story of Helen Tucker Smith's battle with breast cancer that began in 1978, a battle she had apparently won. As a breast cancer survivor, for many years she carried a message of hope and courage to others with cancer and to those in the medical profession who treated them. Her influence spread, not only through her writing and speaking under the auspices of Focus on the Family, but also through her work with Christian organizations.

Helen was an active volunteer all her life. She was founder and officer of the Raleigh Chapter of Women's Aglow Fellowship and the Christian Women's Club, and an active supporter of such organizations as the National League of Pen Women and the YWCA Encore Program, which assists post-mastectomy women. She also taught Bible classes at the Women's Correctional Center.

With two other couples, the Tuckers founded the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities in Raleigh. The Center, which provides educational, residential, therapeutic, and family support services to children and adults with special needs, has been a model for other centers in the United States.

Irvin Tucker Jr., died in 1998. After many years as a widow, Helen married Robert Gordon Smith in 2005, whom proceeded her in death in 2009.

Even during times of personal grief, loss, and illness, Helen continued to act as a support and inspiration to other women, especially but not exclusively, those who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She never stopped learning and frequently enrolled in continuing education classes and seminars, usually on English and creative writing.

In September 2010, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and, after a rapid decline, died at Blue Ridge Health Care Center in Raleigh.

Helen is survived by her sons, Irvin B. Tucker III of Concord, NC, and Larry Tucker of Raleigh, NC; two sisters, Genevieve Polston Hart of Thomasville, NC, and Jeanne Polston Greene of Yakima, WA.

Helen Tucker Smith will be buried in the Columbus County Memorial Cemetery in Whiteville. A memorial service will be held at the First Assembly of God, 3249 Blue Ridge Rd., Raleigh, at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 30, 2011.

In lieu of flowers, friends may make contributions in Helen’s name to the American Cancer Society.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary’s St. Raleigh.