Obituary of Helen Kemble Powers

Helen MacLauchlan Powers, age 94, a resident of the Rydal Park Retirement Community, died on January 20, 2012 of natural causes. Helen was born in Camden, New Jersey on March 24th in 1917, second child of James and Helen Chorpenning MacLauchlan. She was a highly intelligent student from the first, skipping several grades and graduating from Camden High School just after her 15th birthday. In fact, she went through elementary school so quickly that she "flunked" 2nd grade arithmetic. It seems that she didn't have time to memorize the multiplication tables in time for the test. She was later good-naturedly ribbed for this failing in an Inquirer article related to her teaching career. The following fall she started college at Temple on a full scholarship. She was taking so many courses, and of course doing very well in all, that the administrators finally drew the line at a double major of Math and Science. She continued to take just as many courses, but did not receive full credit. They were considered as "audited" even though she did all the work and took all the exams as if for credit. Had she received full credit for all the courses she took, she would have had five full majors. She was an active member of the "Templayers" and was in the first class that studied under Pop Randall, for whom the Temple theatre complex is now named. She graduated with a B.S. at age 19 and immediately started teaching. She was very active in her local American Baptist Church and she volunteered for two years of "missionary service" in Puerto Rico, teaching mathematics to the elementary school children there. Shortly after she returned to the continental United States, she met Franklin Wesley Powers while both were involved in a community theatre endeavor. They married June 21st in 1941, less than six months before the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Helen often considered that, had she known what was to happen in just six months, she might have opted for a career in the Navy and postponed her married life until after the war. Helen and Franklin were the proud parents of three daughters, Dorothy Brooks born in March 1943, Margaret Kemble born in June 1945, and Jessica Lynne born in May 1949. When her youngest daughter was four years old, Helen went back to teaching and later took the position of church secretary at Glenside Baptist Church. During her time there she sensed a call to ministry and eventually enrolled part-time at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained as an American Baptist Minister in the fall of 1962. As women clergy were rare at that time, she was not offered a pastoral position, but accepted an executive position with the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society at their headquarters in Valley Forge, PA (the building often referred to as the "Holy Donut"). After much international travel, and one full-world trip, the Foreign Mission Society was reorganized. She then embarked on a third career. She went back to school and became a computer programmer. She worked in that field full time while at the same time providing part time interim pastoral services at several Baptist churches in the general area. Helen left programming to accept a position as Pastor of North Frankford Baptist where she served for about ten years and later as the chaplain at the Masonic Home near Norristown. She and Franklin celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1991 and she was widowed in 1997. Helen finally fully retired after her triple by-pass surgery at the age of 82 and settled down to be an available associate pastor at Abington Baptist Church where she was a member during her time working in Valley Forge. She occasionally preached and substituted for the Pastor when he was on vacation, and often assisted with the monthly communion service at the church. At her death, she was living in an independent apartment at Rydal Park. Her two sisters, Dorothy M. Thair and Jessie M. Watson predeceased her. She had hoped to match or beat her mother's longevity of just two months shy of her 95th birthday. However she missed that mark by just five days. She is survived by her three daughters, six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson. She led a long and very interesting life. Her memorial service will be held at 11:00AM on Thursday, January 26, 2012, Abington Baptist Church, 1501 Huntingdon Road, Abington, where friends will be received from 10:00 until the time of the service. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Abington Baptist Church-Mission Fund, 1501 Huntingdon Road, Abington, PA 19001.