Helen Mathena, of Irving, TX, went to join her Lord and Savior in heaven on April 14, 2021. She will always be remembered as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, a loving and devoted mother and wife, a prayer warrior, the chronicler of family history and a prolific letter-writer. She was born on July 6, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri, to James Allen and Esther Whitehead.
Helen grew up in the Festus/Crystal City area outside of St. Louis, spending part of her childhood in town and part in the country on the family farm and homestead. Her schooling included attending a one-room school house, graduating from Crystal City HS before her 16th birthday and getting her associate’s degree in education and a two-year teaching certificate from Hannibal-LaGrange College in 1949. After teaching third grade for two years in Herculaneum, Missouri, she obtained her BS degree in education at Mississippi College in Jackson, MS by 1953. Following God’s direction her next teaching assignment was in Anchorage, Alaska where she met an Air Force aircraft mechanic from Texas named Troy Mathena. Married on July 5, 1954 they had 5 daughters between 1956 and 1967. Her gift of teaching took her to elementary schools in Montgomery, Alabama, Grand Prairie ISD, and finally 25 years in Irving ISD until her retirement in 1990. She was an active member of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church in Irving and also at First Baptist Church Springtown during the nineteen years that she and her husband lived there until health issues brought them back to Irving. Helen was also involved with the Irving Retired School Personnel Association (IRSPA).
Helen is survived by four of her daughters: Eva Chance of Irving, Debbie Scarborough of Red Oak, Marla Gallemore and husband, Myles, of Irving, Julie Davis and husband, Jerry, of Irving, “daughter” Carleen “Charlie” Brake of Rock Springs, Wyoming, 11 grandchildren and their partners, 5 great-grandsons, her sister-in-law, Jean Brooks, of Flower Mound, and nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, James McDonald Whitehead, her husband of 64 years, Troy Marvin Mathena, daughter Laura Holmes and grandchildren James, Jodie and Jadyn Davis.
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