Helen Farrow Winslow
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Life Lessons
elen Winslow has seen and learned a lot in her ninety years of living. She has cared for and shown compassion to many people throughout her years as a teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools, her activities in the church, and more recently at the retirement facility where she lives. She continues to teach others today, through her observant perspectives on life.
BY: ROBIN COWHERD
and her paternal grandparents owned a bookstore in Goldsboro. Helen lived in this “old southern” home from birth through high school, from which she graduated with the Class of 1945. During this time, her faith was shaped at the Goldsboro Methodist Church, located about two blocks from her home. She was baptized
Born in 1927, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Helen saw her mother and father as role models as she grew up. She was the only child of a schoolteacher and a hardware specialist. Helen jokes, “Once they discovered my personality, my parents decided that one of me was enough.” She lived in an old, two-story house … an “old southern house,” Helen remembers. She had her own bedroom, played with the older children in the neighborhood, had no chores but had many, many books available to her. Her parents loved to read
Helen Winslow less than a year old in Greensboro, NC.
as an infant in this church. She distinctly remembers carrying her cat with her to church. “The cat went everywhere with me there – to both Sunday School and worship services,” exclaims Helen. “I also remember all the ladies wore hats and the girls wore Sunday dresses.” Home life was primarily reading, but in the event of President Franklin Roosevelt speaking, everyone gathered around the radio. Helen’s favorite radio show was The Lone Ranger (”Hi-Yo Silver!”). During World War II there was the rationing of gasoline and other automotive products, so Helen did not learn to drive until college.
Helen attended East Carolina Teachers College in Greenville, North Carolina, which was located about one hour from Goldsboro. She lived in the dormitory throughout her studies there. Following graduation from East Carolina, Helen studied at the College of William and Mary and received her graduate degree in Education from George Washington University. She began teaching in the early 1950s, eighth grade in St. Paul’s School in North Carolina, just outside Fayetteville. She earned the whopping salary of $100 per month. “They made you start with 8th grade to prove you were worthy of teaching high school. I taught only one year and headed off to Oscar Smith High School in South Norfolk for a $10 per month raise,” says Helen. She taught in just about all the public high schools in Norfolk: Lake Taylor, Booker T. Washington, Maury and Granby High. She retired in 1992 after a total of 43 years of teaching. Helen excelled at each school, but was particularly drawn to her time at Madison School. The school was said to have students who were there for disciplinary reasons and therefore uncontrollable. Helen thrived at Madison by being creative. She was the first teacher to introduce Kwanzaa at the school, and the students responded to her creativity. At all the schools she liked being with the students and the other teachers, but the one troublesome issue in teaching was the development of “silly rules,” like absenteeism policies. Teachers, as she puts it, in public schools rarely receive the thanks they deserve. This may be true for Helen, but even in these later years of life she still receives reminders of her teaching efforts. Within the past year, one of her students became a new resident of the retirement home and paid Helen a visit to thank her for being a wonderful teacher. Just a few years before, she received a call from Jodi
Rell, one of Helen’s high school students from the early 1960s. We should probably use her formal title, Governor Jodi Rell. Governor Rell was elected the second female governor of the state of Connecticut and served that state from July 1, 2004 through January 5, 2011. She called Helen to thank her and let her know that, as Governor, she held her staff to “Winslow’s Rules,” which simply stated, “Do Your Job and Practice Honesty.” Helen routinely asserted these guidelines to her high school students. Aging is not easy. Helen at age 90 remains as alert and bright-minded as she was in front of the classroom, however, she is now legally blind, is near deaf, and uses a wheelchair. She continues to advocate for seniors, particularly those who have lost their senses. She notices people with whom she comes into contact fail to communicate with her and do not provide her with simple courtesies such as treating everyone with respect. “People treat you differently when you get older and especially when you lose your senses. That is not fair! “ Helen explains. Throughout her life Helen has believed that helping others is the most important part of her faith. She certainly practiced this in Norfolk City Public Schools, but also at her retirement home. When she first arrived, Helen was seen going room to room to pray for each individual of the retirement home. “I believe we need more prayer… the world as a whole needs it right now,” she states. Then there was the afternoon in the retirement home when she encountered a resident in a hallway experiencing a challenging problem – he seemed uncoordinated and was struggling to pull up his trousers. He asked Helen if she could help. No stranger to helping people, Helen pitched right in and helped the man pull up his trousers. Helen often says, “I don’t know how I get into these situations!” No truer words are said!
Helen was a two-term elder of First Presbyterian Church serving from 1996 through 2002. About her time on the Session she says, “Being an Elder meant giving up your life for six years.” She also was the “designated opening prayer deliverer” for a popular Sunday School class at First Church led by Chuck Smiley. She provides more detail about leading the Sunday School prayer: “I was not selected for my expertise at praying but because I was always there and was dependable.” Not all her service for the church body was done publicly. It was not unusual to find Helen helping in various private ways. Ideal examples are Imogene and Fran, FPC members. Both women needed reliable transportation to doctor visits, to the grocery store and other daily living errands. Helen
wrapped herself around these tasks; she considered Imogene and Fran as her family and she naturally took on these duties. Fran became a particularly important friend to Helen. Fran was an extremely bright and intelligent woman who happened to be blind. Each Sunday, Fran came to church with her guide dog. Helen enjoyed talking with Fran and they became friends. Helen shares thoughts about her friend: “Fran taught me two important things about being blind: remember everything and admit when you cannot do something. I didn’t know it then, but these are lessons I now use every day of my life as a blind person.” The church teachings most meaningful to Helen were lessons about helping others. Her life has been focused on inspiring and befriending. Her faith is unrelenting and her family of faith has responded in kind. Five women, from FCC, in particular, visit Helen regularly and consider her to be an essential part of their lives. Another example of an enduring friendship in Helen’s life is Ted Warren. Ted and Helen met at First Presbyterian Church, and they discovered that Goldsboro was their hometown. Although from different generations, they actually knew some of the same people from the small North Carolina community. When Helen began struggling with independent living, it was Ted who saw that she needed a retirement home where she would thrive and be supported. He has become a devoted friend and confidant for Helen. Barbara Jean Bass has served as Helen’s skilled nursing caregiver for the past seven years. She provides care, but Barbara Jean also provides joy. Ted has assigned them nicknames: Lucille (for Helen) and Ethel (for Barbara Jean) and sometimes they seem to act-out the comedy from the “I Love Lucy” show. On the serious side of joy, Helen, always the teacher, has inspired Barbara Jean to pursue reading as never before and she has now developed a love for reading. Pictured: Helen, Ted and Barbara Jean long-time friends.
"I will experience my happiest moment by being with God.." Interestingly, particularly in light of her full life, Helen is unable to describe her happiest life moment. She simply says, “I have not experienced it yet.” When pressed for further explanation Helen responds, “I will experience my happiest moment by being with God.” Helen Winslow’s life has included an exceptional bachelors and post-graduate education, forty-three years of teaching excellence, influencing thousands of students, serving the church and her retirement home community. She continues to practice her simple principles as she stands up for super-seniors: those who cannot see, those who cannot hear, and even those who cannot put on their trousers. Indeed, the world might be a bit better off by practicing Winslow’s Rules.