Helms, Emma ~ Obituary

The Monitor-Herald,- Thursday, September 16, 1954

Mrs. Emma Helms Is Victim of Death- Long-Time Citizen Dies at Bruce Hospital on Monday Morning. Mrs. Emma Freeman Helms, 85, of Sarepta, died at the Calhoun County Hospital at Bruce, on Monday, September 13, following a short illness.

Mrs. Helms was born in Pontotoc County in 1869, daughter of Bailey Freeman and Anne Wilson Freeman. She was married to the late L.R. Helms, former merchant, postmaster at Sarepta and a leading citizen of Calhoun. A member of the Presbyterian church, she was a Christian woman and a leader in church, school, and civic affairs.

Mrs. Helms was a product of a generation that underwent many hardships and privations. She was also an aristocrat of the old pioneer stock and was conventional to a degree that is hard to understand by the younger people of today. She had lived at Sarepta the past 58 years, where she was of much worth to the community and was active in all phases of its progress.
Funeral services were held from Sarepta Baptist Church on Thursday afternoon at 3:00 o'clock, conducted by Rev. James Henry, assisted by Rev. Earl Wells, followed by interment in Sarepta cemetery. James E. Cook Funeral Home, of Bruce, had charge of funeral arrangements.

Surviving Mrs. Helms are two sons, J.C. Helms, of Memphis, and Walter Helms, of Oxford; and three daughters, Mrs. Mary Duke, of Memphis, Mrs. Nina Jones, of Pontotoc, and Miss Lera Helms, of Washington, D.C.