Helen Lucas Staples

BURLINGTON, N.C. — Helen Eleanor LaVon Lucas Staples passed away Oct. 30, 2014, in Burlington, N.C., at the age of 98 after an extended illness. She was born in Lorain, Ohio, on Dec. 3, 1915, to Lottie and Walter LaVon and worked on her parents' farm on Baker Road between Wellington and Rochester until she graduated from Sullivan High School in 1934. After graduation she did housekeeping while caring for and tutoring a neighbor's children. She went to beauty school and later took business courses at night at EHOVE. She worked as a beauty operator, a bookkeeper at the Lucas Mobil gas station in New London, managed the New London restaurant The Inn, did commercial sewing at Kent Sporting Goods, was a skilled carpenter and woodworker at Gardner Wood Products, and was a receptionist and bookkeeper at Jennings Ready Mix, from which she retired in 1981. She had a smile and cheery words for everyone wherever she went.

Helen enjoyed gardening, flowers, fishing, skiing, traveling, bowling, bridge, pinochle, spending time with her grandchildren, and visiting relatives and classmates. She had very fond memories of her years at Sullivan School and her classmates. Except for the years during World War II, she attended every Sullivan High School alumni meeting, including her 75th class reunion in 2009, until it became too difficult for her to travel from North Carolina, where she had moved to in 1995 from New London.

Helen was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Chester; a sister, Leona Larsen of rural New London, Ohio; her first husband, Guy E. Lucas of New London, Ohio, in 1964; and her second husband, John F. Staples of Fitchville, Ohio, in 1988. She is survived by a sister, Viola Hodgkin of Rochester, Ohio; son, Guy W. (Twila) Lucas of Oak Island, N.C.; daughter, Lora Lee Lucas Gunn of Burlington, N.C.; three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

Visitation will be held from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Eastman Funeral Home, 200 West Main St., New London, Ohio, where funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday with the Rev. Lorry Mabiala officiating. Burial will follow in Grove Street Cemetery, New London. If desired, memorials may be given to the Hospice & Palliative Center of Alamance-Caswell, 914 Chapel Hill Rd., Burlington, NC 27215. Online condolences may be expressed at www.eastmanfuneralhome.com.