Helen Margaret Youngpeter

Helen Youngpeter, age 83, of Daleville, Alabama, passed away on Sunday, January 4, 2015, at Laguna Beach, Florida. The family will receive friends on Friday, January 9, at Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home, 508 Faust Ave., Ozark, AL 36360 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 10, at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 427 Camilla Ave., Ozark, AL at 4:00 p.m. with Father Milledge Baker officiating.

Helen, the daughter of Dr. Cyril Savage and Helen Donnelly Savage, was born on August 1,1931 in Lima, Ohio. Known as “Little Miss Doc” growing up, her father took her along on his hospital rounds always leaving her with a coke at the nurses station. She attended St. Rose High School, graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in journalism, and many years later obtained her master’s degree in counseling from Troy University.

Helen met her future husband, Donald Youngpeter , when they were seniors in high school. They were married after their junior year at Ohio State, the beginning of 62 happy years together. Donald obtained his Army Commission after graduating with an engineering degree. He soon became a pilot flying planes and helicopters.

Helen traveled the world with Donald (fittingly because she had considered becoming a foreign correspondent upon graduation) enjoying their European tour of duty going wherever and whenever they could with all five children in tow relying upon “Europe on Five Dollars a Day”. She enjoyed England the most, taking several trips to her beloved London. Helen also loved her trip to Israel taken later in life, and all her travels to the four corners of America throughout her 83 years.

Helen is also survived by her five children whom she thoroughly enjoyed raising and spending time together because they are all so different. Laura is the oldest and most serious of the children because she was often called upon to help raise her younger siblings and pushed to excel in school. Always sensitive to people’s feeling, Laura now works as a guardian ad litem for the Florida court system still cast in her role as children’s helper. Laura is married to John McLemore, a veterinarian, and they have two daughters, Katie (married to Ken Ingraham) and Stephanie (married to Will Mailand). Katie and Ken have a baby girl named Alexandra.

Lynda, the second child, was not supposed to live through pregnancy, but Helen was convinced the doctors were wrong. Fortunately, Lynda was born a healthy full term baby and always a bundle of energy starting new projects, helping friends and rescuing hurt animals. Lynda is now the President of a drug research company rescuing hurt humans. She has one son, Mike Haga and his wife, Emily and their daughter Isla.

Michael, the first son, has a dry sense of humor often relaying elaborate (and untrue) historical stories to a believing Helen despite her better judgment. Always keen to injustice, Michael had a difficult time when a fourth grade classmate was killed falling from a tree. An easy child to raise, Michael could be corrected with simply a cross word. He became a lawyer and is currently a Circuit Court Judge in Mobile, Alabama. He is married to Laura Lewis Youngpeter (also a lawyer) and they have four children, Matthew, Jennifer, Christopher, and Rachael.

There was more time between Steven, the next son, and the last baby so he and Helen had more time together to play silly games while the others were in school, especially “Big Dog”, “Little Dog”. Helen would say “Little Dog” in angry, sad , silly, or happy tones and he would respond the same way with “Big Dog”. Mail between them was addressed as Big Dog and Little Dog. Steve is a natural comedian. At parent-teacher conferences Helen would always recall the teachers saying “Steve disrupts the class, but he is funny”. In contrast to his brother, cross words didn’t bother him a bit and even catching him for discipline was a challenge. But, like the others in the family, he always stands up for the underdog. He is a lawyer for the Department of Agriculture, and married to Marie Heredeen Youngpeter (an adoption consultant). They have twin daughters, Lindsey and Meghan, and a younger daughter, Amanda. Lindsey and her partner, Stephen Age have a three year old daughter named Ryleigh.

Teresa, the youngest, is special to everyone in the family. If she couldn’t get one person to do something for her, she could always get another. Never a diplomat, Teresa says what she thinks wherever and whenever. However, if anyone needs help she is there for them tuning in on others’ pain. She is very bright, the only Phi Beta Kappa in the family, and works as a research chemist today. She has two sons, Oscar and Carson Phillips.

After her husband and children, Helen’s next love was writing. She published numerous articles and short stories in national publications throughout her lifetime. Helen worked as a reporter for the Southern Star in Ozark before joining The Dothan Progress as a feature editor. Her “Windmills” columns published in the Progress were popular with a variety of local people.

In 1977 she won the Troy University “Hector Award” for meritorious public service performed by an Alabama journalist for a series of articles exposing corruption within Alabama’s state mental health system.

A consummate writer, Helen taught writing classes throughout her life from first teaching high school classes in Ohio while her husband was in Vietnam to later at Enterprise State Junior College. She loved attending a writer’s conference in St. Petersburg, Florida every year always looking to improve her craft and enjoying the company of other writers.

Helen also became a counselor after obtaining her master’s degree from Troy University. She worked at the Enterprise Mental Health Center claiming it was not really a radical change in careers since in both her fiction writing and counseling she was “dealing with people’s resolution of their problems.” She genuinely grew fond of many clients and enjoyed the comradery of working with her co-workers at the center, especially her late best friend, Gwen Miller. Together they used “creative means” to help their clients, and although frowned upon at times by mental health’s main office, proved to be valuable assistance to their clients and community.

Helen found a church home at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, a ministry truly dedicated to the teachings of Jesus by helping the less fortunate (despite being a very small church themselves) and being open to everyone. It is a church where people are encouraged to love God and have fun at it. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to St. Michael’s.