Dr. James Helvey by Teresa Buckner, Director of Publications
Doris Helvey’s first introduction to the man who would become her husband was through poetry and letters that he wrote to another girl. “That’s when I first started falling in love with him,” she said recently. At the time, she told her friend— the recipient of the verses—that she would have to make her own decision about the affections of Jim Helvey, but “I can tell you that this is a jewel of a man.” Down the road of life, the unimpressed girlfriend chose another man, and Jim and Doris Helvey (MHC classes of ’48 and ’50, respectively) chose each other. They were married for 68 years, had three children together, buried one of those children, and built a life around service to education and to the church. And when, in April of this year, Dr. Helvey passed away, Doris affirmed that he was, and had always been, “a jewel of a man.”
him, “They are known for producing excellent ministers.” So, he set out with his parents to Mars Hill College, sight unseen. He moved into Rivermont Dorm, an older building on the campus. His daily schedule would include hauling coal for the pot-bellied stove in his room, and going to the basement to take a shower. Despite his initial misgivings, Jim would later tell Doris that he felt a sense of belonging at Mars Hill. He came to love the college, its students and professors, and even his dorm, where he chose to live again the following year.
Helvey graduated from Mars Hill College (then a twoyear institution) in 1948 and completed his bachelor’s degree at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, in 1950. He then went to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Doris and Jim Helvey in 2009 divinity in 1953 and a master’s degree in theology in 1960. He later earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English from According to Bud Christman, Vice President for the University of N.C. at Greensboro. Doris Helvey Advancement at MHU, Dr. Helvey was not just a graduated from MHC in 1950, and obtained both priceless jewel to his family, but he was also a bachelor’s and master’s degrees before pursuing her priceless friend to Mars Hill University. life’s work as a high school English teacher. “Jim Helvey was one of the most approachable Dr. Helvey served as a Baptist pastor of churches people I have ever met,” Christman said. “His in Kentucky and North Carolina for 15 years, and character and actions were informed by a dynamic later as an interim pastor in the Church of Christ. faith, one which held strong to eternal truths yet He also served for over a decade as a professor of remained forever open and growing. He always English and religion and chairman of the fine arts struck me as one of those ‘life-long learners’ whose department at Davidson County Community College inquisitive nature pursued expanding knowledge in in Lexington, N.C. subjects ranging from poetry to space to history.” Jim Helvey grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, Throughout his life, the poetry that first drew the heart of his wife was a constant in Jim Helvey’s life. and when he announced a calling to be a minister, He wrote mountains of verse, and published three his pastor recommended a small, little-known books of poetry. college in the mountains of North Carolina, telling
Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2020 19
