STANTON, Helen Maxine
(McGinnis)
died August 22, 2021, peacefully in her sleep in rural Tennessee, just four days shy of her 101st birthday. She was born in Braddyville, Iowa, on August 26, 1920, the day on which women across America had their right to vote ratified. She attended secretarial school in Omaha, Neb., and later moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., for work. There, she met airman William A. Stanton, and they married January 31, 1948. They spent decades traveling the world on assignment with the U.S. Air Force, living in England, Germany, Spain and ultimately settling in Tucson, Ariz. In Madrid, Helen worked for Samuel Goldwyn Studios. In Tucson, she worked many years for the American Red Cross and even longer as secretary to the general manager of Holmes Tuttle Ford, a job she loved largely because of the amiable crew there. And they loved her back, as did virtually anyone who met the vivacious, joyful Helen,whose sense of adventure and sassy humor enriched the lives of friends and family. Her love of animals, especially wildlife, was legendary, and she was well known at Jesse Owens Park near the Stanton home, where she would walk her dogs daily, greeting everyone she encountered. She was preceded in death by her husband; by her parents, Calvin Clyde McGinnis and Katie Marie (Jeffers) McGinnis, and by her sister, Dorothy Elaine McGinnis, and youngest brother, Ronnie Eugene McGinnis. She is survived by her brother, Billy Dean McGinnis of Colorado Springs, Colo.; children Janelle Thigpen, Tucson; Billie Maxine Stanton, Arvada, Colo.; Sam Stanton, Sacramento, Calif.; and Joe Stanton, Tennessee; eight grandchildren as well as great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins. Helen spent the last eight years of her life under the tender, loving care of her daughter-in-law Jeanne Kuhlengel Stanton, whom Helen considered her third daughter. She is to be buried beside her husband in East Lawn Palms Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Association, at act.alz.org or 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, Ill. 60601.
