Born in East Islip, Long Island, New York on August 10, 1946, she was the daughter of the late Francis Earl and Mary Josephine (Vacanti) Kinsey.
After graduating from high school in Arizona in 1964, Helen moved to California and attended Pasadena College (now Point Loma Nazarene University), earning a degree in Business Administration in 1972. Helen worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in La Cañada Flintridge until 1995, when she moved to Lansing to be near her daughter April and sister Mary. She worked for the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University until her retirement in 2016.
Throughout her life Helen enjoyed such activities as singing in the choir, playing piano, cooking, spending time with her daughter and grandchildren, and her dogs. But of greatest importance to Helen was her faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who saved her not as a result of any works, but by grace through faith in Christ alone, having received from Him the free gift of everlasting life. It is in His glorious presence that she now dwells with indescribable joy, awaiting the promised day when "this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).
Helen is survived by her daughter, April D. (Irvine) Wynn, wife of Charles L. Wynn, of Okemos; April's father, Dale O. Irvine of La Cañada, California; two grandchildren, C. Nathaniel Wynn and Benjamin A. Wynn; three brothers, Francis E. Kinsey of Rhode Island, William M. Kinsey of Texas, and Leonard Kinsey of California; as well as several cousins, nephews and nieces. In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by her sister Mary Josephine (Kinsey) Fowler.
A memorial service celebrating Helen's life will be held on Wednesday, October 24th, 2018 at 6pm at the Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home, 1730 East Grand River Ave., East Lansing. Light refreshments will be served following the service.