Leonard Paul Helms

Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, March 11, 2011 at Tabernacle United Methodist Church with Dr. John P. Thomas and Rev. Phillip Collins officiating. Burial will follow in Memory Hill Cemetery with Byrd Funeral Home on West Main Street directing. The family will receive friends at the church from 9:45 until 10:45 on Friday prior to service time.

Flowers are being accepted or donations may be made to Tabernacle United Methodist Church, “Building Fund”, 4205 S. Brannon Stand Rd., Dothan, AL, 36305.

Mr. Helms was born May 5, 1925 in Geneva County, the son of the late Alec and Minnie Hales Helms. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army having where he served in the Korean conflict and the U.S. Navy where he served in World War II. Mr. Helms was a farmer and a member of Tabernacle United Methodist Church.

Mr. Helms was preceded in death by two sisters, Sybil Tew and Annette Windsor and one brother, Sherwood Helms.

Mr. Helms is survived by his wife of 62 years, Mellijo McDonald Helms of Dothan; a daughter, Susan Gilley and her husband, Mike of Dothan; a son, Paul Helms and his wife, Elaine of Dothan; granddaughters, Joanna Hillis and her husband, Dave of Madison, AL, Holly Helms of Huntsville, AL; a great-granddaughter, Ivy Grace Hillis of Madison, AL; a brother, Will F. (Bill) Helms and his wife, Clara Mae of Vine Grove, KY; brothers-in-law, Clay McDonald of Dothan and Hugh McDonald and his wife, Margaret, of Molina, FL; a sister-in-law, Rosalyn Reed of Loxley, AL.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to Wiregrass Hospice for their care of Mr. Helms.