COOPERSTOWN – Elizabeth Helms Hawn, 93, of Cooperstown, the widow of a Bassett Hospital chief of pathology, restorer of historic documents and a master knitter, died July 6, 2008, at the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home.

Mrs. Hawn was also the sister of the late Richard M. Helms, CIA director in the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

She was born in St. Davids, Pa., on June 29, 1915, the daughter of Herman Henry and Marian McGarrah Helms. She was educated in Germany and Switzerland, and graduated from Miss Beard’s School in New Jersey.

In 1941, she married the late Clinton Van Zandt Hawn.

The couple moved to Cooperstown in 1947 when he became pathologist in chief at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital.

She is survived by four children, Cynthia Hawn Coleman of Potsdam, Van Zandt Hawn of Wayzata, Minn., Gates Helms Hawn of Far Hills, N.J., and Richard Pearsall Hawn of Sherborn, Mass., and fi ve grandchildren, Elizabeth Coleman Chen of London and New York City, Benjamin Van Zandt Hawn of Minneapolis, Minn., Amanda Hawn Larsen of Mill Valley, Calif., and Hilary Lizeth Hawn and Ashley Mc Guire Hawn, both of Sherborn, Mass.

A brother, Gates McG. Helms, lives in Maplewood, N.J. In addition to Richard Helms, she was predeceased by another brother, R. Pearsall Helms.

She was a lifelong volunteer, beginning as a Red Cross worker in Boston during World War II, and served many organizations in Cooperstown, including the Bassett Hospital Ladies Auxiliary and the Cooperstown Community Foundation among many others.

In the 1960s, she joined a small, dedicated group of volunteers working at the New York State Historical Association Library. She took workshop courses at the Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere to develop the expertise necessary for the delicate process of restoring historical books and documents. For almost 40 years she patiently practiced this craft two or three mornings a week in the laboratory at the Fenimore Art Museum.

Another long-term interest was knitting, and she became an expert, mastering such challenging patterns as those developed for Irish sweaters in the Aran Isles. She also knit baby garments for Bassett’s gift shop and warm caps for cancer patients.

Throughout her life she loved music, singing alto in choruses and listening to opera.


COOPERSTOWN – Helen Wilbur, who was 106 and a long-time resident of Cooperstown, died Friday morning, July 11, 2008 at Otsego Manor.

Born June 7, 1902 in Newark,

N. J., Helen was a daughter of August and Anna (Englehardt) Riegelman.

She married Walter Otis Wilbur on Sept. 1. In Poland, Herkimer County. Mr. Wilbur died Aug. 30, 1957.

Raised in Remsen, Oneida County, she later lived in the Utica area. During her years in Cooperstown, she served on the Clark family’s domestic staff.

She is survived by four daughters, Betty Ditchfi eld and her husband Jim, of Rochester, Dawn Chapman and her husband Perry, of Belmont, Mass., Lois Augenstein and her husband Paul, of Rochester, and Joan Wilbur and her companion Leslie Day, of Cooperstown; one son, Herbert W. Wilbur and his wife Rose (“Tobie”) of Voorheesville; nine grandchildren, Lisa Augenstein and Lynne Reeves, Anne Doran, Susan Houy and Jennifer Chapman, Shirley Ditchfi eld, Kathryn Peterson, David Wilbur and Sean Wilbur; four great-grandchildren, Natalie Reeves, Sam Doran, Lee Doran and Axel Houy; one sister, Ruth DeGroat of Johnson City.

In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by four brothers, Herman, Albert, Herbert, and Edward, and three sisters, Marian, Ella and Tessie.

Graveside services will be private in the Fly Creek Valley Cemetery.

Memorial gifts may be made to Susquehanna SPCA, 4841 State Highway 28, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

Arrangements are by Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.

Labels: Elizabeth Helms Hawn, Helen Wilbur, Obituaries