Avis de décès de Helen Watkins

WATKINS--Helen Twombly of Saint Paul, Minnesota died December 6, 2010 after a brief struggle with an acute viral infection. She was 72. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Gray and Mrs. Mary Twombly of New York City, and is survived by her brother Robert Twombly, sister Edith Eddy, and husband Eric, as well as by her children, Michael, Becky, and Tim, and five grandchildren. She grew up in New York City, attended Brearley School, Milton Academy, and graduated from Radcliffe College magna cum laude. She pursued doctoral work in English at Yale University, earning an MA and completing all requirements for a Ph.D. without dissertation. Later she received a JD from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN. She moved with her husband to Minnesota in 1963, where she taught English at Augsburg College, worked for Campfire Girls of America, was a lobbyist for the Greater Minneapolis Daycare Association, and was Executive Director of the Women's Resource Center. An unabashed liberal, Helen was a staunch and fierce advocate for numerous causes. She had a sharp academic and legal mind, was a wonderful conversationalist, and held strong opinions. She was a breast cancer survivor. The loves of her life were her family, her dog Charlie, her close friends, and the family camp on Squam Lake, NH. A world traveler, Helen attended the UN Decade for Women in Nairobi in 1985, and climbed Mt. Kenya. A Memorial Service will be held January 29, 2011 at First Congregational Church, 500 8th Avenue, S.E., Minneapolis, MN at 3pm. A second Memorial Service is planned for extended family and close friends at the family camp at Squam Lake, NH sometime during the summer of 2011. Memorials are preferred to Doctors Without Borders, Southern Poverty Law Center, the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, or the donor's choice.