Obituary of Helen S. White

White, Helen S., 86, of St. Petersburg, died Saturday March 4, 2000 at Westminster Shores Health Center. Born in Wheatland, Wyoming, she came here 1968 from Atlanta, GA. She was a certified speech pathologist who specialized in treating children and elderly stroke patients. She received her bachelor?s and master?s degree from the University of Denver, and her associate?s degree from Colorado Women?s College, also in Denver. After her retirement, she volunteered for 8 years with Dist. V of the Florida Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services in St. Petersburg, where she had lived since 1968. She was appointed by the Governor of Florida to be a member of the Human Rights Advocacy Committee for Mental Health, a position she held for 6 years, including two years as committee chairman. She also served as a Guardian Advocate Dist. V, spending hundreds of hours in court hearings to represent those who had lost their civil rights due to mental illness. In addition to her Guardian Advocate work, she served as a member of the Dist. V Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Policy Council and the chair of its Mental Health Committee. In these volunteer positions she identified the need for services and lobbied for increased funding for mental health. Because of her volunteer work, the City of St. Petersburg awarded her a key to the city in the mid 1980?s. She was a lifetime member of the Wheatland, Wyoming chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Council for Exceptional Children. Other memberships included St. Matthew?s Church in St. Petersburg, the Order of the Daughters of the King of the Episcopal church, the American Association of University Women and the English Speaking Union. Survivors include her daughter, Carter Anne Prescott, NY, NY; Sister-in-law, Eunice Small, Wheatland, Wyoming; nephew, Milton Small, Wheatland, Wyoming; several nieces, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center-Ninth Street Chapel, St. Petersburg.