Steve Richards

Helen Murrill Richards Obituary

Helen Murrill Richards was born on April 14, 1944, in the neighboring town of Bonne Terre, Missouri, because the small town where her parents and older sister Judy lived, Flat River, Missouri, didn’t have a hospital.  But eventually Bryan and Christina Murrill, Judy, and Helen headed to the much larger town of Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, where coincidentally, her future husband lived.  Though they both went to the same high school, the same church, and even the same ice cream shop, they didn’t become a serious couple until they kept running into each other at the University of Missouri where she was majoring in English and Latin and he was majoring in broadcast journalism.  Soon the courtship bloomed and that led to their marriage at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church on June 6, 1966 (six-six-sixty six was a number Helen knew Steve could remember).

Only a month after the wedding Steve got drafted, fled to an Air Force recruiter and joined the Air Force before the Army could find him, and the couple took off for a life-long adventure of living in places ranging from just north of San Francisco to a cornfield in central Indiana to an airbase not too far from Tarsus in Turkey where the Apostle Paul was born some years ago.  Helen particularly loved her time in Turkey because of all the ties to ancient Rome.

As she and Steve traveled about, the family grew and daughters Tina then Jill joined in the travels which ultimately landed them in San Antonio, Texas, in 1983 where they eventually settled down.  Along the way, Helen taught at a number of schools and while she occasionally had an English class, her true love was her Latin classes and the wonderful students she met along the way (anyone who takes Latin has to be a wonderful student).

She enjoyed many hobbies and events and became a highly accomplished rubber stamper, specializing in making cards of all types.  She loved to Volksmarch and saw parts of the Texas hill country that she might not have seen otherwise.  And she was an avid reader, so much so that she was on a first-name basis with the librarians at the local library.  Church was a very important part of her life and regardless of where the family was stationed she soon became very active in her "new" congregation.  A little known fact is that over the years she and Steve helped plant four churches (Clovis, N.M.; Cheyenne, Wyo; Springfield, Va; and here in San Antonio).  And here at Northminster she became very active, serving, and in some cases, managing various programs, boards, charities, congregational events.  She was particularly dedicated to the kids at the local Presbyterian Children’s Home and held several positions at the Presbytery level.  And, she was extremely active in the local Diakonia Walk to Emmaus program.

Helen was a caring wife, mother, nana and friend who will be greatly missed by those who survived her, including her husband Steve; her sister Judy Baldwin; her daughters Tina Richards Smith and husband Mark, and Jill Richards Raney and husband David; and especially her four grandchildren, Jared and Leah Smith and Emily and Nathan Raney.

Carole Lyn White

It sounds as if Helen had a full, rich, and satisfying life.  How wonderful!  

Carole Lyn White