Helen York

Mrs. York was born Helen Hamilton in Sheffield, Alabama on July 23, 1929. Her father, Homer Clinton Hamilton, was an electrician, and her mother, Helen Bryan Hamilton, was a homemaker. The family lived in what was known as "Village 1," a World War I-era development that is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Village 1 was its own little world, with progressive schools, a lot of green space, and social events -- a good place for a child to run around.

Helen attended Sheffield High School and then Florence State Teachers College, now known as the University of North Alabama. It was there, in her freshman year, that the event occurred that would change her life forever.

In a small class, she met a young Navy veteran, back from World War II, named Tom York. He, by his own account, was smitten, and she agreed to go out. Things moved quickly from there. On Christmas Eve, 1947, the two were married at Helen's Aunt Hamie's house. They honeymooned in Daytona Beach, getting there by plane and holding on to the tickets as keepsakes for the rest of their lives. Shortly before their first anniversary, they had a daughter, Karen, now Karen Moore.

Helen supported her husband's early career in radio. Tom had a job at the station in Florence, right by Sheffield. While they were there, another child, Byron, was born. And then Tom got a big opportunity to appear on television in Memphis, so the young family moved to Tennessee. (In Memphis, Helen met mid-1950s Elvis Presley and pronounced him a "very nice young man.") Then came an offer from a station in Birmingham, WBRC-TV. Tom took it, and Helen decided Birmingham was the place they would stay.

Helen was content to remain in the background -- actually, determined to stay in the background -- as her husband became famous in Birmingham. To say she was not star-struck would be an understatement. Above all, she was well aware that television could be a tough business. She loved to tell the joke about the circus coming to town, with a big parade, and one man at the end sweeping up the elephants' droppings. When asked why he stayed in the job, why he didn't find a better one, he answered, "What? And leave show business?"

Helen had a gift for friendship. She made friends for life, both in Sheffield and Birmingham. And perhaps more than anything else, church was enormously important to her. Back in Village 1, she showed a surprising initiative and began attending church on her own as 12 year-old girl. And she went on a journey throughout her life. In Birmingham, that began with the Homewood Church of Christ and continued with the Cahaba Valley Church of Christ and ended with Independent Presbyterian Church.

Through it all, she supported Tom and kept him in line while they raised Karen and Byron. After Tom retired in 1989, they traveled and enjoyed their social group in Birmingham. They particularly liked going to Sheffield and Florence, where they kept in touch with the places that had been important to them when they first met.

They were married 73 years. When Tom died, on August 1, it seemed just a matter of time, and not a lot of time, before Helen would follow. And she did, on October 13.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to two of Helen's favorite charities: Gideons International at gideons.org, and Big Oak Ranch, at bigoak.org.