Helen Byers Dear

Mrs. Dear is the Mother of classmate Willis Dear. Please remember Willis and his family in your prayers.

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Helen Elizabeth (Byers) Dear - Visit Guest Book

SHREVEPORT, LA - Helen Byers Dear died August 31st, 2010 at the Glenn Retirement Home here in Shreveport. Family and friends will celebrate her life and death in a memorial service at Christ United Methodist Church on September 12, 2010 at 3pm. Visitation will take place from 2-3pm prior to the memorial service. Rev. Willis Dear, Rev. Tom Howe and Rev. Mark Bray will officiate.

Helen was born in Norwood, Louisiana in 1919, but moved early in her family life to Gilliam, Louisiana. Her mother and father William Lillian (WL) Byers and Juanita Sebastian Byers raised five girls (Margaret Baker, Helen Dear, Lillian Kerry, Billy Lytton, and Mary Lynn Simmons), but Juanita died when Helen was only eleven and the youngest was four. Mr. Byers as everyone called him never married again, but raised these five girls alone with the help of an in home maid who taught the girls how to cook and keep house. He did such a good job that town folk often said that he "loved them up". Helen was the second oldest and bore much of the responsibility for what happened at home and in the Byers Mercantile Store. While others got professional degrees in nursing and business school, Helen went to Louisiana State Normal College for teachers ( now Northwestern State University) where she earned a BA in Education in 1939. She earned a Masters in Education from LSU in Baton Rouge in 1955 and later earned thirty hours above her masters in curriculum and administration.

She began a career in education teaching high school in Fairview High School in Grant, Louisiana. She taught elementary in Baton Rouge but most of her career was in Shreveport where she taught Louisiana English & History at Midway Junior High School. She became counselor at Oak Terrace Junior High School. She helped open Woodlawn High School where she became Assistant Principal of Instruction for eighteen years. Then with what was called "the cross over" during desegregation, she went to Green Oaks High School and finally Captain Shreve High School from which she retired.

But that was not all of her life. She was born and raised as a Christian in the Methodist tradition. She learned how to play piano early in life and she became the pianist and organist in almost every church where the family was planted. She sang in choirs and directed choirs at Morningside United Methodist Church. She played piano for the Men's Bible class. She taught Sunday school and served on committees and the Administrative Board there for many years. She was active in the Women Society of Christian Service now called United Methodist Women.

She was a loving and faithful wife to Millard, her husband, for over fifty years, and a wonderful mother to her son, Willis Dear and daughter, Ann Abbondante. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Millard, and survived by her son, Rev. Willis Dear and wife, Nancy, and daughter Ann Abbondante, five grand children- Shelley Bray, Jeffrey Dear, Cyndi Dear-Owen, Nicholas Abbondante and Dina Abbondante Connors and nine great grand children.

She made her mark with her family, God's Church, the schools, and communities where she lived. Now God receives her in the eternal home for which he has prepared a place.

Helen and Millard both wanted their bodies to be given to the LSU Anatomical Department at LSU Medical Center for medical and scientific research.

The family wishes to thank Dr. Rick Michaels for his medical knowledge and care for Helen during her stay at The Glenn. They also wish to thank St. Joseph Hospice including Chaplains Stephen Murphy and Donald Tucker who visited, prayed, and sang with her, and nurse Nancy Powell, and CMA Eileen Lewis for their tender care and loving touch. They also wish to thank the staff at The Glenn who cared for Helen and gave her every opportunity for a better quality of life which includes nurses Kristy McCrea, and Katie Baxter, as well as CNAs Laura Morris, Juanita Bush, and Margaret Barfield and homemaker Rita Manivoch.

The family requests that gifts in her memory be given to Christ United Methodist Church for the development of its senior adult program.