Helen M. Cooke

WEST COLUMBIA – Helen Beatrice Moore Cooke was born August 14, 1927 in Plantersville, SC and died peacefully in her sleep at home on Monday, March 22, 2021. She was a daughter of the late Charles Benjamin Moore and Margaret Louise Cooper Moore.

Helen graduated from Winyah High School in Georgetown, SC in 1945, where she was a BETA Club member. As a teenager, Helen began working at the Box Plant, Paper Mill, and Abram’s Apothecary/Soda Fountain in Georgetown. After moving to Columbia as a young wife in the late 1940s, she worked at Sears on Harden Street and, later, was employed as a Bookkeeper with South Carolina Electric and Gas on South Main Street where she worked for several decades and retired from. Both before and after retirement, she volunteered with God’s Helping Hands and was in charge of the Inasmuch Charity for a time in her beloved church, All Saints Episcopal on 12th Street in Cayce, of which she was a founding member. On weekends, she would go door to door collecting for March of Dimes and other charities.

Helen was a member of Pine Island Club where she often took her family and grandchildren, especially for festivals and Easter egg hunts. She was special in that she always gave of herself, caring about friends, neighbors and relatives and helping us all in many ways; none more special than her enduring Christian love.

Vacations were always spent in the Low Country: Surfside Beach, Brookgreen Gardens and, of course, Georgetown historical tours.

A special occasion in her life happened on her birthday in 1945. That date turned out to mark the official end of World War II (V-J Day). As usual, she was working on Front Street in Georgetown, as was her sister, Ruby, as a switchboard operator when they heard the news and saw their brother, C.B., who at that moment returned from service in the Army in North Africa. The three ran out into the street and embraced with joy!

Helen was the youngest child in a large farm family of 11 children, two of whom had died in childhood. All of her family passed away years ago, including her husband, Albert E. Cooke, Jr. Surviving are her daughter, Deborah H. Moore; grandchildren, Stephanie Hickman, Barrett Hickman, Alexandra Nunez; great grandchild, Sofia Nunez, all of Columbia/West Columbia; nieces, Rebecca Griffith of Archdale, NC, Margaret Cribb and Beatrice Howell of Georgetown, SC; nephews, David Lawrimore of Plantersville, SC and Floyd Moore of Archdale, NC and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at All Saints Episcopal Church, 1001 12th St., Cayce, SC with interment to follow in Fort Jackson National Cemetery.

Caughman-Harman Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.