Helen was born in 1914 in Eldorado, IL, the daughter of Bess and Tom Cannan. She attended Southern Illinois University and graduated from the WMU Training School. She married Allen W. Graves in 1937. They were married for fifty-four years before his death in 1991. Helen wrote “Growing in Bible Knowledge” in 1944, a book that was translated into several languages.
Helen focused her life around her church, her family, and her travels around the world with her husband and family. She was active in the civil rights movement and in anti-war demonstrations. After Allen's retirement from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he and Helen served as missionaries in Ogbomosho, Nigeria. She was a life-long Democrat and hoped to help elect a woman as our President. She was heart-broken by the separation of children from their parents along our southern border where she lived briefly as a child.
In 1985 Helen was given the Clarence Jordan Award by the Long Run Baptist Association. She was active for many years at Crescent Hill Baptist Church and later East Baptist Church where she was ordained as a deacon. In recent years she belonged to Broadway Baptist Church.
Helen was pre-deceased by her son John, and grandsons Jason Graves, Eddie Olney, and Steven Olney. She is survived by her other children and their families: Joyce Olney of Rock Hill, SC, Dorothy Cannan Hyde (James) of Black Mountain, NC, David (Margaret) of Louisville, Jenny Weisz (John) of Boston, MA and Tom (Wendy) of Richmond, VA. She is also survived by her daughter-in-law Koene Graves and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, 2800 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, KY on Saturday, September 28 at 2:00 p.m. A reception and ice cream social will be held after the service in the Fellowship Hall.
Expressions of sympathy may go to Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, KY or to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship designated to "Southwest Immigrant Relief Fund”, and mailed to: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, 160 Clairemont Ave., Suite 500, Decatur, GA 30030.
