Helen Stanphill

Helen Jones Stanphill, 43, took the hand of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on June 27th, 2012 to reside peacefully and eternally with God. Helen was born in Norfolk, and graduated from Chesapeake's Western Branch High School where she first began careers as a life-long distance runner, scholar, writer and teacher – and person of Faith. As a scholar, Helen moved on to the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and completed her Bachelor's degree as first in her class in the News & Editing curriculum and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. At UNC, she was also an Honor Air Force ROTC graduate and upon graduation received a commission as an officer in the United States Air Force. She became a Public Affairs Officer in the Air Force and served 6 years of active duty including 3 years in England. While in England she completed a Diploma in Biblical Studies at Cambridge University. She was aided academically at Cambridge because at UNC she had studied classical Greek language to enhance her personal Bible Study from the early Greek texts. Under her leadership, her base newspaper won Best in Europe and as well her Public Affairs Office received the U. S. Ambassador's Award for the United Kingdom. She volunteered to help crew supply flights from RAF Alconbury into Sarajevo as war raged. Tragically, the tumors that took her life stemmed from material to which she was unknowingly exposed from a nuclear disaster she investigated while on Air Force duty in England.
She coordinated the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion with President Clinton and Prime Minister John Major at the Cambridge American Cemetery. She also hosted a 50th Anniversary celebration for the surviving pilots and crew members from the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain and cherished the autographs they gave her with pictures of their aircraft. While in England, she lived off the base and made many life-long friends in the Cambridge Community.
Helen was a linguist and fluent in Spanish having been a high school Exchange Student to Honduras. Her love of Spanish in part came from her devoted teacher and Track Coach, Jerry Gaines. When she left the Air Force she became a Youth Minister at Annandale United Methodist Church and a writer for Cokesbury Press and Abingdon Press. She contributed many scripts to a series of Youth Ministry teaching materials published as "Reel to Real" using popular movies as the basis for Christian morality lessons and discussions. Her crowning writing achievement was her novel, The Golden Hour that was published in 2002. In recent years as a mother and a teacher she concentrated her writing on children's stories and has enjoyed a long relationship with Focus on the Family, publishing numerous stories in their Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr. magazines. She has recently been assembling into a book, a series of children's stories featuring a strong young girl, Penelope Pepper, a character she so lovingly crafted. Her family hopes to bring about this book's publication.

Helen loved her home church, Point Harbor Community Church, where she was an active member, creative teacher and supportive mentor to God's children. For the past three years Helen dedicated herself to Home Schooling her daughters and has been a mentor to many in the Home School Community. She used her intellect and organizational skills for field trips and enrichment classes that benefitted groups of students and parents in arts, athletics, academics and social skills usually learned best in a group dynamic. Memberships and affiliations include the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, Home Educators Association of Virginia and the Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) Homeschool Group.
Helen is survived by her husband, Steve Stanphill, the love of her life and a devoted runner she met while in the U.S. Air Force. Helen and Steve brought into the world and have nourished together two wonderful daughters, Rose and Hope, whose bright minds and athletic talents will keep their Mother's presence alive in the hearts of all who have known Helen as well as those who will come to know them as they share the wonderful gifts their Mother gave them by birth and by her tender love and homeschool teaching. Helen is also survived by her mother and father, James Webb Jones & Nancy H. Jones, as well as her sister, Elizabeth Jones, the mother of her nephew, Andy Heller-Jones, her Aunt Pat Warhurst and her adult children Michael & Teresa, her Uncle David Hottle & his wife Sydnia Czarnecki as well as Dave's adult children Lisa Tario and Jeff Hottle. Among the Stanphill family, Helen is survived by Steve's father, Vince Stanphill Jr., Steve's mother, Margie Stanphill, and Steve's four sisters, Debbie Redford, Diane Frogge, Linda Krumholtz, and Patti Young, as well as several nieces, nephews, numerous great nieces and great nephews and one great great nephew.
Helen learned to read at about 4 years of age from her sister Beth who is three years older and from that time words have been her life and her calling. She was a natural Teacher, a loving wife-mother-sister-daughter-aunt-friend. She loved music and dance, played piano, flute & piccolo and started her daughters in music study early in their lives. She had determination and self-discipline and compassion second to none. When her father questioned her about whether she had time for the English courses she was teaching for her Air Force staff in England, she said, "Dad, I would not be much of a Leader if I did not leave them better than I found them." She has left us better than she found us. She was the kind of person of which the World has never had enough.
A celebration of Helen's life will be held at Point Harbor Community Church in Chesapeake at 10 a.m. Friday, July 6. Interment will follow at the Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Suffolk. After interment, a reception will immediately follow at Jolliff United Methodist Church in Chesapeake. Condolences may be extended to the family at www.SturtevantFuneralHome.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Helen Stanphill Scholastic Memorial Fund to benefit her two daughters and sent to Towne Bank, 5716 High Street West, Portsmouth, VA, 23703.