HELEN MILAM GIVEN

GIVEN, HELEN MILAM Helen Milam Given, longtime community volunteer of Birmingham, age 90, died May 20, 2011. She was predeceased by her husband, William Morris Given, Jr., her parents, Ernest Bowling Milam and Robie Lee Smith, her brother, Bowling Milam, and her sister, Robie Lee Milam Thompson, her brother-in-law, Sam Perry Given and sister-in-law, Ellen Wilkerson Given. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Juliet Given Calvin (Joseph), her children, Colonel William Morris Given, III (Alida) of Magnolia Springs, AL, Sully Given Cochrane (James) of Tuscaloosa, AL, and Robert Milam Given (Jennifer) of Birmingham, her seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida on July 13, 1920. She graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1942. She served as a Wave in World War II, trained in the first class of women Midshipmen at Smith College in 1942 and was honorably discharged as Lieutenant (junior grade), United States Navy Reserve in 1944. She was a past president of the Junior League of Birmingham and the Linley Heflin Unit, Chairman of the Women's Division of United Way, first President of the Mountain Brook Jr. High School P.T.A., Treasurer of the Y.W.C.A., and on the boards of the Red Cross and Workshop for the Handicapped. She was a member of the Cambridge Study Club, The Colonial Dames of America and Moneygrabbers, a women's investment group. She was a longtime member, as well as a President, of the United Methodist Women at Canterbury United Methodist Church. The formation of the Mountain Brook School System was the most important civic goal of Helen Given and her late husband, William Morris Given, Jr., and they remained committed to the support of education for the rest of their lives. They also greatly supported the Emmet O'Neal Library. Helen was a force for good in her community for over 50 years. Her personal warmth and energy helped her contribute much to those around her. She rarely met a person she didn't like and a good story she wouldn't repeat. Her legacy is clearly evident in the healthy state of the organizations, schools, and causes she helped to create and sustain. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May 24, 2011, at 2:00 PM Canterbury Methodist Church, Dr. Bill Morgan officiating. Visitation will immediately follow the service. Graveside at Oak Hill Cemetery will follow. Pallbearers are James Tompkins Cochrane, Jr., John Collier Foster Given, Robert Christian Given, William Morris Given, IV, Robert Sommerville Wilkerson Given, Sam Perry Given, Jr., Stuart Clayton Hemingway, John Garrett McNeil, Finis Ewing St. John IV, and William Given St. John. Memorials may be sent to the Emmet O'Neal Library, 50 Oak Street, Mountain Brook, AL 35213; Linley Heflin Unit, 13 Office Park Circle, Birmingham, AL 35223; and Canterbury United Methodist Church, 350 Overbrook Road, Birmingham, AL 35213.