Helen Harms Webb,who lived in State College from the late 1930's until 1990, died in Tucson, Ariz.,on Feb. 17, 2004.
A memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm Saturday in the chapel of Eloise B. Kyper Funeral Home.,1034 Benner Pike, College Twp.
Immediately following the service, which will also honor her late husband, Wayne Webb, her ashes will be interred beside his at Centrte County Memorial Park, College Township. Friends of the late John and Anna Brammeier Harms.
She graduated from Loveland High School in 1923, and she received a lifetime teaching credential in 1926 from (then) Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley.
On June 10, 1929, she received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and she received a master of science degree in 1934 from the University of Okklahoma-Norman. In 1936, she earned a lifetime teaching certificate from the state of Oklahoma.
Helen Harms met Wayne Webb while they were both graduate students in physics at the University of Oklahoma. They were married on Nov. 8, 1930. The following year,they moved to Tonkawa,Okla.,where Wayne taught at Northern Oklahoma College. It was there that their first daugher, Bertha Ann Helen was born on Oct. 22, 1931. In 1936, the family moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where,in two years, Wayne received his doctorate in physics and accepted an appointment to State College in 1938.
Their second child ,Wayne Eldredge, was born on June 15, 1940. Between 1942 and 1948, Helen taught physics at Penn State. In doing this, she resumed a teaching career that had begun in rural Colorado public schools, and included a graduate assistantship at the University of Oklahoma. On Nov. 24, 1948, Helen and Wayne's third child, Hollie Harms, was born, followed by their fourth child, Lillabeth Harms, on July 15, 1950. In 1953, Helen returned to teaching at Penn State. She retired as an assistant professor in 1971 at the same time as her husband.
She was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church, State College, where she taught Sunday school, and participated in the United Mthodist Women. She was also a member of the Centre County chapter of the United Nations Association, organizing the Trick or Treat for UNICEF Christmas card sales in the late 1960s and 1970s. Bread for the World, CROPWALK,and Meals on Wheels were some of the additional charities important to her.
Mrs. Webb continued to live in and be an active citizen of State College for two years after her husband's death in 1988, after which she lived in Arizona, first in Phoenix, and then in Tucson. After moving to Phoenix, at the age of 84, Helen joined the Cross in the Desert United Methodist Church, where she was an active member working with the Shoe Box Monistry and organizing the congregation's participation in the CROPWalks.
She is survived by her older sister, Lillian Dringman, of Kimball, Neb.; her twin sister, Anna Hoffman, of Westminster, Colo.; three children, Hollie Webb Pitts, of Tucson, Ariz.,Lillabeth Webb Weis, of Beverly, Mass.,and Wayne E. Webb, of Berryville, Mass.; 11 grandchildren; eight great grandchildren; and a great-great grandson.
In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Esther; two brothers, Henry and Lewis; and a daughter, Bertha Ann Helen Gery.
The family asks that those wishing to memorialize Helen do so by making contributions to their local Hospice organization.
Contiributions will need to inform their Hospice facility of Helen's full name, that she was not their direct care, and that acknowledgments should be sent to Hollie Pitts, 2513 N. Fontana Ave., Tucson, AZ. 85705.
To sign the guest book or to send condolences, visit www.kyperfuneralhome.com.