the Rev. George N. Mendenhall and Mary Johnson Mendenhall in North Liberty, Iowa,
the youngest of six children. Her father was completing work on a doctorate in
psychology at the University of Iowa. Helen was raised in Fremont, Nebraska, where
her father was a professor at Midland College. When Helen was 16, her father
accepted a position at Sterling College, Sterling, Kansas. She graduated from Sterling
High School and earned degrees from Sterling College (BA), U of Iowa (MA in French),
U of Wisconsin (MA in English), and completed the course work for a PhD in World
Literature at the U of Arkansas.
Helen taught high school English in La Grande, OR and Pasco, WA, and American Lit
at Wittenberg College in Springfield, OH. In Anchorage, Alaska she taught English,
French, psychology, and military correspondence on the U.S. Air Force base. She
joined the foreign service, working for the CIA in Washington DC; Saigon, Vietnam;
Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Quito, Ecuador. She taught English for a year at
Sterling College, her alma mater. After further graduate work at the University of
Arkansas, she taught at the University of Central Arkansas, Texas A & I in Kingsville, Tx,
Lamar University in Beaumont, TX, and Houston Community College. She retired in
1995 at the age of 73.
Helen was interested in almost everything. She loved to travel and took classes in
Europe, once studying for a year in Hamburg, Germany as an exchange student. She
hitchhiked around Europe for six weeks with a friend she made from Switzerland. She
explored neighboring countries when she lived in Southeast Asia, Central America, and
South America. She was interested in genealogy and regularly visited her “cousins” in
Sweden and scoured the English countryside researching the Mendenhalls whom she
traced back to the time of Chaucer.
She skied in the Alps, and owned a sailboat, a convertible, and a poodle. While she
never married, she had a photo album of all her boyfriends, the ones who had
proposed and the ones who hadn’t. She took art classes, especially in watercolor and
printmaking. She wrote and illustrated a children’s book The Mountain Elves. She took
up photography and won several local awards. Helen loved animals and nature. She
had a season ticket to the ballet for thirty years. She took computer classes and
learned to create newsletters, which she sent regularly to family and friends. She loved
to entertain and hosted Christmas teas for decades. Her enthusiasm endeared her to
her friends, family, and students. Many nieces and nephews have said, “She was my
favorite aunt!”
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 24, 2019, at 2:00 pm at Christ the
Servant Lutheran Church, 2400 Wilcrest Dr, Houston. Arrangements by Earthman
Southwest Funeral Home.
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